Lachrimae
by Tiarhlu
Summary: Stith is taken by a group of mantrins opposed to human influence on their lives. Fannovel: begins prior to Earth's destruction and follows Stith's journey to adulthood.
1. Morning

**Chapter 1**

_Morning_

Ever since she realized that her six-year-old adopted daughter--a mantrin named Stith--would not brush her teeth by herself and would have to be "helped," Sarah Hatcher wished there was some way to grow a third arm. One arm would hold the mantrin still, the second would pry her mouth open and the third would do the brushing. That would have been perfect, she thought, as trying to use only two arms to get all three of those things done before Stith got away was simply impossible.

What made the whole scenario especially frustrating was the fact that Sarah's soul mate, Nodyr--a male mantrin with whom she lived--was considerably more lenient than what Sarah deemed good for fathering. This meant that he did not like trying to do anything to Stith that she did not want, even if he knew that it was in her best interest. Nodyr was also extremely quiet and submissive for a male, of either species. For this Sarah was partly grateful: grateful that he was not a tyrant, but only partly grateful because it meant she had to do most of the disciplining herself.

However, they both feared that Stith would become afraid of Sarah if she carried the entire role of disciplinarian. Nodyr knew this and did his best to raise Stith, though even raising his voice in her direction was difficult for him. What made it even more challenging was the fact that Stith favored him naturally, since he was the paternal figure in her life, _and_ because they were the same species.

The young mantrin sat on the counter, in front of the sink, her tail beating agitatedly against the plastic cream colored material. Splotches of toothpaste covered her loose blue pajamas and her scowling face. There was a large splat of toothpaste on the mirror, the result of an elbow accidentally landing on the tube as they violently danced around the room trying to foil each others' plans.

The brawl, which resembled an elephant and a hedghehog attempting an intricate four-legged version of Russian ballet with one sprained ankle each, had ended. It had come to a low down staring contest, Sarah and her adopted daughter attempting to will each other to their ways. It was not working.

Neither of them noticed Nodyr coming to stand in the door and watch in amusement.

Annoyed, Sarah shook the abused toothbrush at Stith. The mantrin stuck out her tongue in mockery.

"Stith," Sarah eventually said in agitation, "I don't care if you like it. I didn't like it when I was your age, you know. But your teeth have to be brushed."

Stith didn't respond.

"Stith! Open up," she demanded again. "It won't take but a minute."

"Why?" Stith eventually answered, sticking out her tongue again.

"Because your teeth will rot and fall out if you don't."

Stith crossed her arms, mocking Sarah's position and staring at her crossly. "No, they won't!"

Helpless, Sarah stood up and took a deep breath, letting it out in an exasperated sigh. She was tempted to give up, as she had been at this particular project for so long that she threatened to be late for work if it continued. Finally, she noticed Nodyr out of the corner of her eye and looked over at him, her eyes followed by her head. Her undefined cheeks turned a slight rose color as she grinned pathetically, placing a hand on her slender hips and reaching up to brush her slightly curly, shoulder-length brown hair out of her eyes.

"Nodyr? Help?" she pleaded, only to see him grin toothily at her. Nodyr was a mixture of two mantrin races, although the only one that really showed was Sogowan--the same race as Stith. The main evidence of this was his brown skin and large ears that tended to flop around lazily. The other race in his cross was Goureg, the race native to the area, although the most that showed of that was his considerable height, his bright blue eyes and the fact that his skin was a noticeably lighter shade than what was usual for Sogowans. At the moment, he stood in a loose gray T-shirt, and a pair of baggy black, drawstring sweat shorts that buttoned in a long row along his thighs.

"Why?" he said, echoing Stith. He smiled innocently, his ears giving a playful twitch.

"Because I'm thirty one years old and I'm losing an argument with a six-year-old. That's why," Sarah snorted, her eyes pleading in Nodyr's direction. Just as she held the toothbrush out to him it was suddenly snatched from her hand by the uncooperative young Stith, who promptly started to brush on her own at a furious pace and hopped down from the counter. Sarah lurched at this sudden move and nearly jumped to the side to clear room for the mantrin, after which she simply shook her head and sighed. She went over to Nodyr, turned her back to him and leaned into his front. His arms felt around her waist and held her there.

"I'll never understand your kind," she said quietly with another exasperated sigh. "I used to babysit. But even though they were all humans, when we got Stith I thought I could apply the same principals. Turns out she was more work." Reassuringly, Nodyr gave her a little squeeze as they both watched Stith furiously brush her teeth, pausing momentarily to look up at Sarah and giggle before continuing. Bubbles formed on the sides of her muzzle.

"We're just more to handle than a human; short legs and no tail, right? It could always be worse," he told her quietly, an adage of which he constantly reminded her. "I'm sure there are plenty of disobedient humans children too. Besides, Stith is usually a good girl. Isn't that right, Stith?" he added

At this, Stith spat the contents of her mouth into the sink, turned the lever of the silvery faucet so that there was a comfortable amount of hot and cold water running at full force, and plopped the sudsy brush back into its holder. This served no real purpose because she did not do anything with the water, not even rinse out her mouth or the toothbrush. "Done now," she said sourly, then grunted and stomped out of the bathroom, most likely to go and color, or something more obnoxious.

At this point, neither was concerned about teaching her to clean up after herself when brushing her teeth. They were still working on the "brushing her teeth" part. Only when the process itself was implanted would they start to teach doing the process without covering every square meter of the bathroom with toothpaste and water.

"Now imagine taking this imp out camping in the woods. No toys, no running water, and then having to sleep out there," Sarah teased, turning steadily to nudge at Nodyr's barrel chest with a finger. "I swear, you're hell bent on self destruction," she said, grinning crookedly and brushing more of the hair out of her face that had gotten loose from her headband while fighting with Stith.

"Well, it's her birthday," Nodyr noted with a faint shrug. "And there isn't much else to do around here. This is as close to a children activity that's available to us, unless you want to spend a fortune that we don't have, and a few years' wait going to Earth. She hasn't made any friends yet either. It's a shame that there are no children that she's allowed to play with." He traced a finger around her chin, gazing down at her.

They both sighed for a moment as the thought sunk in like a massive stone dropped into a pond. There were indeed children her age nearby that she could play with, but none of their parents would allow it. This had been one of the extreme reactions to Sarah and Nodyr's coupling. Even though human and mantrin relationships had become more common over the years, most highly objected to it, especially the more conservative of Solbrecht's inhabitants. Their relationship had been called everything from indecent to immoral, and few wanted their children getting such "obscene" ideas from being around Stith. It was a sad affair and something they were prepared to deal with from the moment they had committed to one another. Both had been determined to raise Stith to be more tolerant.

"And this is the big six," he continued after a moment. If we're going to go ahead and put her through public school, this is really her last cha--"

"Nodyr," Sarah interrupted, looking up at him in agitation. "We agreed that she had to be home schooled. The public school here is so crude it's--"

At this, Nodyr shook his head and sighed. His voice was full of concern. "Sarah, you and I both know that she needs to be around others."

Sarah stared through Nodyr's chest, not bothering to say anything. Whether they were going to put Stith through public school or have her home schooled was a debate they had been having off and on ever since adopting her. Both sides of the argument were equally valid, with Nodyr's being that their daughter needed exposure to others so that she could learn to get along with others.

Sarah agreed with this necessity, but as she would point out, Stith may have been seriously hurt as soon as it was discovered who her adopted parents were. She knew how cruel children could be, especially if they were extreme specists, and even some of the school's faculty was that, even with the government's superficial attempts to hire neutral teachers of both species. In both species there were members who loathed the mere name of the others for various reasons, many dating back to the early misfortunate history of their encounters.

But, Nodyr would say, regardless of what they did, once Stith was out on her own she would be forced to deal with that anyway, so why not get her used to it? They could not protect her forever, as much as he wished that it were possible.

"I need to get ready," Sarah said as she finally noticed the wall clock from over Nodyr's shoulder. With this, she quickly separated herself from him and stepped around him to get into their bedroom, closing the door that opened into the bathroom and locking it. Quickly she shrugged out of her robe and stood before Nodyr, clad in her undergarments. Even though she was due at work in forty minutes and had been awake for nearly two hours, she had not bothered dressing yet, or even changing out of the underwear in which she had slept. Sighing, she reached up to rub her temples, the source of the reason she had not bothered to do anything.

"Sarah, you really should see a doctor about those," Nodyr said with worry as she sluggishly started to remove her undergarments to change into clean ones. "You've had a constant headache for the past two weeks."

"Nodyr," Sarah began between movements of fabric, "My doctor is a quack, the others won't accept our insurance, we can't afford any other insurance and it's certainly not bad enough for the hospital, which we also can't afford."

Nodyr stepped up behind Sarah as she pulled on her dress shirt--she always wore a button-up dress shirt with a necktie--and gently brushed a few fingers through her soft, although tangled, hair. "You know Seeva works at the hospital," Nodyr said pleadingly, mentioning one of his friends from before the time he met Sarah. "She might be able to pull a few strings. This could be serious and you know it."

"It's allergies," Sarah insisted, the excuse she always used for her frequent headaches, waving a hand dismissively as she buttoned on the white shirt. Nodyr handed her her characteristic dark blue tie, watching sympathetically as she secured it around her neck. This done, her dressing had been completed, and she leaned back against her larger companion, her head resting on his large chest. He lightly nuzzled through the hair on the top of her head, hooping his arms around her waist and simply holding her with his large, tripled-jointed legs forming a barrier of protection around her.

"One more day," Nodyr reassured her, "and then you go on vacation. You won't have to worry about any of this for a whole week."

Sighing, Sarah nodded once and narrowed her eyes, gingerly stroking a hand over one of Nodyr's warm arms. A blanket of surreal silence draped over them, and even though the clock was ticking against Sarah, time seemed to stand still. Inhaling deeply, she leaned her head back against his chest. She remained there as long as she was able, peacefully sighing from the comfort of his warm breath on her neck.

Returning to work was not going to help her headache in the least, and she knew it, but fortunately there was only one more day. She continued to tell herself this as she reluctantly took Nodyr's arms from her waist and turned to face him. Once more she brushed the stubborn hair from her eyes, and with a lazy smile, placed a soft kiss on the side of his muzzle.

"Hurry home," he said, gently stroking her cheek. He blushed a deep crimson from the kiss. Even though they had been together for nearly three years, such affection continued to embarrass him. Recently, however he was slowly growing accustomed to it, and becoming more open about returning it.

Nodyr's inherent shyness--as well as his respect for Sarah--had led to an amusing situation the first, and as of yet, only time that they had showered together, which had been before Stith was even adopted. Not until the event was nearly finished had she managed to get him to open his eyes, and even then he continued to look away. Afterwards he relentlessly apologized for looking. This, along with how nervous he had been while she scrubbed him, had led Sarah to the decision that they should wait until he was ready to try anything of that nature again.

"I can't go any faster than the clock, as much as I hate to say it," she said, playfully tapping between his nostrils. "I wouldn't even go today if we didn't have any bills. But I'll see if maybe I can leave early." She began to make her way out of the room, picking up her pace upon glancing at the clock that was just above their bed. "Bye," she said.

"Bye," he called after her. "I'll miss you." A few moments later he heard the front door slam, followed soon after by the car door. A smile warmed onto his face as his thoughts turned to the weekend that they had planned, and that he had all of the following week to spend with his family.

Nodyr stepped back into their room briefly and turned a small knob on the wall. Within the same breath, the bathroom lights flickered, and then finally went out. As the door was closed behind him, he called for Stith. It was time to prepare breakfast.


	2. Birthday Cake

**CHAPTER 2**

_Birthday Cake_

-Two eggs. Crack on side of bowl; bowl should be shallow so any shell to fall in can be easily picked out.

-Chervil, dill, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste.

-Tablespoon or so of milk. Eyeball it.

-Tilt bowl slightly. Beat hard and fast with fork until consistent in color.

-Pan. Butter. Preheat pan to medium first so butter won't stick.

-Dump eggs into pan.

-Wait until top is reasonably firm, then tilt pan forward and fold over edge of eggs.

-Cheddar and parmesan. Allow to melt slightly.

-Tilt pan so omelet slides onto plate. Twist wrist and allow gravity to do the folding.

-For garnish, cut in half and spread open so cheese oozes out. Spearmint leaf.

-Toast. Butter and strawberry jam.

-Give to resident female, midget, psychopath mantrin, who squeals and runs in a strange sort of waddle to dive onto a beanbag, sit up and turn on television in one fluid motion. Grimace, expecting complete contents of plate to either fly off or become garnish for said midget's nightshirt.

It was early morning, and the cartoons were showing at full force. Nodyr was convinced that the reason for them being on so early was to give children a reason to want to get up for school. Maybe they did not want to go to school, but at least they would want to get out of bed. It was also convenient how, after running for a full hour, they would end just in time to leave for school; after that there would be absolutely nothing with any entertainment value until the hour after school was _over_.

The only problem Nodyr saw with the whole arrangement was how there was not even anything entertaining for the adults until that time. For the rest of the morning and early afternoon there was nothing but long-winded, monotonous advertisements for products no one really needed, despite what they would have you believe. If these were not to one's taste, there was always a channel or two that showed really bad movies that no one really cared about. Of course, the alternative was to just turn the shows off and do something constructive. But what fun was that? However, once something worth watching finally did come on, it would be at the same time as the cartoons, and the cartoons always won. No contest.

Fortunately, there was sometimes homework to distract the children from fighting with the adults for television rights after school. _Unfortunately_, Stith knew of no such thing as homework and would not until that autumn, when her home schooling would begin. Nodyr worried if this was even the case, as he felt he could not handle giving her extra work. After all, she would surely be angry with him.

For him, even if he could gain control over the television, there would be sitcoms that night. Tomorrow was Stith's birthday, and the evening's entertainment--the party was that night as they would not be home the following day--would be the ravings and extreme hyperactivity of a six-year-old, fueled by enough sugar from cake and ice cream to kill an entire herd of diabetics. In the following week there would be little aftershocks of this earthquake as leftover pieces of cake would be eaten with dinner. Fortunately, that would be her only massive dose of straight sugar until the next year. It was fine to have a sweet tooth, but it was not fine to indulge it with candy at such a young age.

Especially not with somebody who would not yet brush her teeth without coersion.

"Another year, another birthday," Nodyr said with a nostalgic sigh and, after watching Stith watch the amazing amount of violence that was her cartoon, turned toward the sink and started to clean up after himself.

Nodyr never did look forward to birthdays, despite the joy of seeing Stith so happy; even his own were dreaded. Rather than thinking of himself as one year older, he thought of himself as one year closer to his death. At his youthful age of twenty six years, he was experiencing something of a quarter-of-a-life crisis. Often he worried about what would happen after death, even though he did not believe that anything happened, other than his body being returned to the planet. His life energy would help new life to grow. This is what his parents had taught him, but still, the thought of not being alive was terrifying.

And then before death, there was more fear. He worried about falling victim to a strange toxin or disease that would slow his heart and brain activity to the point that the hospital's sensors would not pick them up and instead register him as dead. They would then proceed to bury him alive, and he would be helpless to stop them.

It bothered him to think that near-death-experiences were mere illusions, even though he knew they were, conjured up by the brain to distract itself from the pain of death. The thought of what was coming would make any such experience not so pleasant. He would surely fight it, he thought.

It also bothered him to think that there were literally hundreds, if not thousands, of religions that all claimed to be right about what happened next. Which one was right? Were any of them right? His parents view was at least comforting, and not so damning as many of the others.

"_Erseeeeeeeeeeh_?" Stith whined, interrupting Nodyr's morbid thoughts with a tug on the leg of his bathrobe. Nodyr lurched somewhat in surprise, having been caught up in the torrents of his wild imagination. There was something about the way she had spoken that made his head hurt, but he shrugged it off despite the unsettling feeling.

Placing his hands on the edge of the sink for balance, Nodyr looked down at the youth to his side. "Yes, Junebug?" he asked, using her pet name and hoping that whatever she had to say would get him out of his state of blues.

"Can I have some cake?"

Her eyes wide and aglow with hope, Stith flashed a naïve ear-to-ear grin and bobbed up and down on her feet. Nodyr turned to face her, crossing his feet at the ankles and propping himself up on the edge of the sink with an arm.

"Now, Stith, I would love to give you some cake, but it's not time. We have to wait until _ahmo_ comes home, and then we have to wait until after dinner. If you have cake now you'll get all bouncy, and then you'll be really tired and you won't have any fun tonight," he said quickly, without any hint of sternness.

"Please?" Stith said, showing all of her teeth in a bright smile that could have even blinded a mole. Her tail happily wagged from side to side on the pillow behind her, creating a heavy thump that resembled an excited dog's tail beating against the floor.

"_Ahmo_ is going to be really upset if you do," Nodyr said in a last ditch effort to convince her. He knew it would not work. He was right.

"Please?" Stith said again with the same innocent smile. She was doing her best to look as adorable as possible. "You love me, don't you?"

Nodyr blew out his breath, chewing on his bottom lip as he watched her. An ill look covered his face, much like if he had just stubbed his toe on a brick wall. The grimace slowly melted into a smile from the assault of Stith's cherub-like expression. "Oh come here," he finally said, smirking. "You've found my weakness."

Within an instant, she had sprung onto her feet and dashed into the kitchen. "Where is it?" she asked rapidly, her head zipping from side to side like a frightened animal keeping watch for a predator. The only difference being that she was the predator.

"IIIIII don't know," he said, teasing her, his eyes tracing the ceiling. "I, just, can't, remember." As he said this, he punctuated each word by tapping his knuckles on his forehead.

"_Erseh!_ Where is it!" she said pleadingly.

"Oh—" Nodyr grabbed onto his chin. "I may have thrown it away," he said, and then added after hearing her squeal in horror, "Or maybe not. "

"Where is it?" she whined and then began frantically opening up the cabinets.

"Umm." he began to tap his toes against the tile, his tail gently swishing. "Is it up here?" he asked innocently, opening a cabinet above the refrigerator. "Nope. Now where did I put it?"

"_Erseh!_" Stith said, crossing her arms over her chest in a behavior she had learned from Sarah. At this moment, she suddenly remembered where the cake was, and something told her that "_erseh_" knew as well. "You put it up there!" she said excitedly, pointing at a cabinet above the stove, and leaping as if trying to reach it herself.

"Now Stith," Nodyr said as he looked at her with a wry smile. "You know I took it out of the oven. You even helped me ice it." And this was true. During the process, she had become perhaps a little too frisky with the spatula, getting icing all over the pan, the counter, her shirt, her hands, and pretty much everywhere but on the cake itself. What resulted was a cake that resembled a balding man's head, with its scattered, thinning patches of icing on top of the tan colored cake. The misplaced icing was in turn licked up, at least some of it anyhow. Nodyr managed to pick her up before she made herself sick.

Stith continued to frantically point at the cabinet door. She grunted in frustration, wondering why he was being so difficult.

"Junebug, it can't be on the ceiling either!" he laughed, and then turned around to open a small door under the sink. "Could it be in the trash?"

"No!" As annoyed as she was, Stith could not help but laugh at this thought. Holding a hand over her muzzle, she did her best to stifle the oncoming giggle.

Nodyr pulled out the trashcan and inspected it, scanning it liberally. He turned it over several times, bringing his green-blue eyes close, and sniffing like a bloodhound. With this done, he lifted it up and looked inside; fortunately there was nothing in it. He then put the can over his head and said, "It's not in here either." His voice was muffled by the white, plastic can.

"_Erseh_, it's up there!" Stith finally said, giving up at his feigned ignorance.

He lowered himself to her, bringing his large muzzle up against her tiny one. "Are you sure?" he said in a delicate whisper. "Because I think I saw it—" He paused, suddenly scooping Stith up into his arms, causing her to gleefully squeal. Her legs and tail dangled limply below as he supported her under her rump and back. "—in _ahmo_'s underwear!"

Stith burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter from this comment. She was shaking so vigorously that she was nearly dropped, which would not have been a pleasant scenario, despite her seemingly amazing ability to survive falls without more than a bruise the size of a pea. Tears streamed from her eyes like miniature waterfalls; Nodyr delicately wiped these up with the sleeve of his robe.

Once she began to settle down, which was quite awhile, he finally walked over to the cabinet that she had been pointing at all of this time. Resting Stith on the countertop to free up a hand, he opened the cabinet and pulled out their cake. It was in a plastic pan, and covered with clear, plastic wrap to help keep it fresh, as well as keep any unwanted pests from devouring it. Pest control was a real problem at their house, but they just could not afford it.

"Stith, go sit down and watch your cartoons, and I'll bring you a piece. Alright?" Nodyr said as he opened the next cabinet and pulled out two plates.

"Will you come watch them with me?" Stith asked, rocking back and forth on the countertop.

"Of course," he said, smiling. Nodyr then leaned forward and gave her a little lick on the side of her muzzle. This caused her to gag and wipe her lips off hastily.

"Okay!" she finally said with much enthusiasm after recovering from the lick. She bounced off of the counter and zipped into the living room.

When she was finally out of the kitchen, Nodyr called after her. "Stith?"

"What!"

He paused for dramatic effect and waited for her to call again. "Underwear!" he said suddenly, smiling gleefully as he heard her fall over with laughter once more.

Slam!

Sarah hastily closed the door to the hotel's dumpster and dusted off her hands. Her thin lips curled in disgust at the stream of beer now staining her pants. This along with a molding, half eaten pizza, and a used tampon were just some of the foul things that she had had to pick up that afternoon and send to the trash. She had never had to do this before, oh no. But today, for some reason, her supervisor thought that it might be a good idea to have her do the work of the public areas workers. Of course they had taken the day off without even asking.

"Yuck," she said, feeling her stomach protest the odors that were all ripening in the heat. Her hair was growing sticky with sweat, and was currently fastening itself to the back of her neck. This she did her best to brush and peel off of her skin using the backs of her hands. It did little good, but her palms were now too disgusting to even consider bringing near her hair. "At least I get to go home soon," she moaned in fatigue.

After rubbing her hands on the back of her pants, Sarah hurried back inside the hotel. If not for the grueling work that she had to suffer through, she would have considered the place beautiful. It was a three story, L shaped building with a coral painted exterior. The window trims were all forest green, and from standing in front of the entrance, one could easily see the enormous chandelier that hung over the lobby, sparkling and twinkling like a nest of diamonds. On the west side of the bottom floor was a giant mural featuring bottle nosed dolphins. Although there were none on Solbrecht, the humans still held a special place for them and felt that the painting would bring a more tropical feel to the area. As if that was needed.

Dabbing her soaked forehead on her shirtsleeve, Sarah glanced up at the thermometer on the side of the building. 111 degrees. And that was without the humidity factor. The pathetic thing was, this was a moderate day for the summer. To her, it was quite amazing that so few had been the victims of heat stroke, and even death. For a human these certainly were not natural temperatures. Often she was jealous of how well the mantrins managed to deal with the heat, especially the Orkeht race, with their tiny, light frames, and extra large ears that helped to keep their bodies cool.

Before entering the hotel, she leaned over the fountain that was out back, and splashed several handfuls of cold water on her face and neck. The fountain itself was of a family, a human family. In the center was a concrete statue of a mother and father, both of seemingly Caucasoid origin. They both wore bright smiles, and between them skipped a young boy, holding their hands and owning an equally joyful expression.

It was with much relief that Sarah finally found her way inside. Once there, she was treated to an icy blast of air from the overhead vent. This air, combined with the dampness on her face was especially pleasurable. If there was one thing that her civilization did right, it was in air-cooling technology. The interior of the hotel was kept at an average temperature of 72 degrees. To most, especially the humans, entering from the sweltering climate outside felt wonderful.

Soon Sarah was reunited with her housekeeping cart. It was a heavy, dreadful peace of equipment that always wanted to go in every direction, _except_ the one in which it was being pushed. She was not sure if a more stubborn object could exist. Well, there was Stith, but no inanimate object could be more stubborn, surely. The cart often felt as if the wheels were covered in superglue.

She quickly pulled the remaining objects from her pockets that needed to be on the cart. Soon, a pair of latex gloves, a cleaning rag, and an assortment of tiny soap and shampoo bottles were carelessly tossed on top of the cart. With a great heave, she pushed it toward the elevator.

Fortunately the elevator also opened in the back, and this door led into the housekeeping area. Otherwise, the staff would have had to perform Olympic quality gymnastics with their carts, in order to get them through the main doorway.

Unfortunately, the elevator itself tended to be a little on the slow side. How could it possibly take over a minute to travel just three floors, Sarah often wondered. There were plenty of complaints but nothing ever managed to be done about it. She looked at her watch impatiently as she waited, tapped her foot, cleared her throat, and hummed simple tunes in her head that never managed to evolve past a few notes.

Finally, after a wait that rivaled one at a doctor's office, the elevator arrived. The door swung open with a cheerful "ping," and then Sarah hefted her cart through it. On the way through, her hand reached out and pressed the rear 1 button, whose purpose was to open the back door into housekeeping. It soon swung open with an equally cheerful ping. She then pushed the cart to the end of the room, and shoved it in the storage closet. Only one other cart was in there, much to her relief. It was also a great pain when the closet was nearly full, as no one ever seemed to care how their carts were placed. In many instances, whoever was last had to pull a few of the carts out, reorganize them, and finally place his or her cart back where it belonged.

Despite being in a hurry to get home, Sarah took many liberties to postpone clocking out for the day. The longer she waited, the more time she would have, and of course the more money she would make. In reality, the extra minute or two that she could stall would bring her an insignificant increase in pay, but every little bit helped. Her entire income had to support the whole family since Nodyr did not work.

Just past 15:00, she swiped her ID card, signaling the end of her workday. On her typical schedule, she worked far later, but that day she had convinced her boss to let her leave early for Stith's birthday. What followed was the weekend, and that week Sarah's weekend was free, so she was most excited about being able to leave for the extended break. As she placed her ID back into her pocket, she heard the backdoor open.

Two of her coworkers came in from the break room, a roly-poly human by the name of Gwen Robbins, and a mantrin of the Sogowan race named Jenny. It was unusual for mantrins to take human names, but sometimes the cultures bled together. Whatever had just been said it must have been hilarious, as Gwen was giggling without shame. However, in Gwen's case, a beetle walking across the road would have been worth a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Sarah asked. She was well ready to leave, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

Gwen brought a tiny, plump hand up to her mouth to stifle the giggles without any luck. "Well," she said, then slapped her hand down on the nearest counter and scrunched her face up as if too overwhelmed to continue. "Jenny was just doing the funniest impression of Howard."

"You shouldn't make fun of the boss," Sarah replied. Despite her thoughts, she could not help a small chuckle as she pictured what must have happened. Even though he was a human, Jenny could do so some brutally accurate impressions of him, not to mention others. Sarah had been the victim of a few herself.

"Oh but it was so funny!" Gwen shouted as her giggles turned into an uproar to prove her point. "Come on, do it again!" she said, nudging Jenny in the side.

"Forget it," the mantrin replied, walking past her. "He could come in here any moment." With this, she grabbed her cart that had been left in front of the elevator, and then pushed the button so that she could get back to work.

"I guess I'll be waiting a few days," she said to Sarah with a smile, showing a mouthful of not so perfect teeth.

"Possibly longer," she said. "It's not an exaggeration when people say the stairs are faster."

"Well I can't quite take them with this piece of crap can I?" Jenny said, smacking the cart with her fist. Several shampoo bottles and a few towels fell onto the dirty tiled floor, forcing Gwen into another giggling fit. These she quickly picked up and placed back where they belonged. Once everything was neat and tidy she gave Sarah a look as if to say "don't tell anyone."

An unpleasant odor suddenly caught Sarah's round nose, causing it to twitch. She coughed. "Have you been smoking again?" she asked accusingly.

"You've got to go somehow dear," she said with a hint of satisfaction on her face. In the same breath, the joyous ping of the elevator sounded and she heaved her cart into it to finish her work for the day. "Say happy birthday to Stith for me," she said as the door closed behind her. "And give your sexy mate a kiss for me!"

"Please," Sarah said to the elevator door. It really bothered her when others talked about Nodyr in such a way, and Jenny was no stranger to doing so. On more than one occasion she had walked by him and made licking gestures, not to mention wiggling her tail seductively. Fortunately for Sarah, Nodyr really was not interested in her feeble advances, even if they really were just for show.

However, he _did_ blush liberally anytime one of Sarah's coworkers decided to flirt with him. Sometimes his brown cheeks grew redder than a ripe cherry.

"Are you leaving now?" Gwen asked, holding off her giggles long enough to get in a few words.

"I sure am," she said. Sarah reached into her pocket to pull out her keys. These she twirled around her fingers a few times, causing a faint jingle from the various trinkets on the chain. "I've already clocked out, so if you'll let me, I'd like to get home."

When she walked through the front door, Sarah managed to catch both Nodyr and Stith sound asleep on the couch. However it was likely that Stith was only faking it, as she tended to do often. On more than one night they had thought she was finally asleep, only to leave the room and be woken a few minutes later to the sound of her creating havoc all throughout the house. Nodyr, on the other hand, was a sure bet to actually be asleep. She knew how fond he was of naps, but what really gave it away was his light snoring. Even though it was annoying, Sarah managed to find it cute when he did it. As far as she was concerned, everything he did was endearing.

She watched them through a cascade of hair. Before getting out of the car, she had removed her hair band, and since then her sticky, sweaty hair had flopped over her eyes, as it had always insisted on doing. This she pulled together into a thick strand and did her best to hold out of the way as she walked over to the couch.

"I'm home dear," she said, leaning over the two sleeping mantrins. "Wake up, Stith." She gave her daughter a gentle shake on her back as she spoke.

Much to Sarah's surprise, Stith was actually asleep or at the least doing an excellent job of faking it. Gradually she opened her eyes, yawned, and then rolled off of Nodyr's chest onto the floor. This was followed by a giggle. Stith then bounced onto her feet, climbed back onto Nodyr, fell off again, and then continued giggling.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Sarah said, grabbing the young mantrin's hand and pulling her back onto her feet. The mantrin in question whined in protest, stumbling considerably with each motion until she was finally upon her feet. Brushing herself free from whatever imaginary dust and germs had accumulated, probably in an attempt to distract Sarah from what she would soon see, Stith shifted the weight from one foot to the other several times before finally looking up.

Sure enough, Sarah saw what it was that Stith was trying to hide, and as soon as she saw it the human bent forward to grasp the younger mantrin's chin between her thumb and index finger to get in a closer look. "And just what do we have here?" she asked, turning Stith's muzzle while the mantrin struggled and whined in complaint.

There were the unmistakable remnants of what appeared to be buttercream around the ridges and folds of her faux beak. It was chocolate, and Nodyr had made it himself, even though Sarah had insisted that he simply buy a jar of the stuff; it was easy enough to make, being only sugar with enough butter to hold it together when creamed, but it used an enourmous amount of sugar. The stuff was expensive, as it simply refused to grow in the colonized portions of Solbrecht and had to be sent from Earth.

This whole affair slightly upset Sarah, but not because of Stith; it did not bother her in the least that Stith had wanted an early piece of cake. That was to be expected. What bothered her was the fact that Nodyr had indulged her, knowing full well that it would probably spoil her appetite for dinner, as Stith did not have to eat much before being full.

"Somebody's been eating the cake," Sarah said matter-of-factly, lifting her head slightly and looking down her nose at Stith as she retrieved a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe the buttercream from her muzzle. Stith looked rather annoyed, her ears laid back and a scowl on her muzzle. The mantrin hated not knowing whether her mother was angry at her, her father, or angry at all.

Nodyr did his best to act innocent of the crime, even though he knew that she had found him out. Stretching his legs out in front of him and allowing them to snap back, then popping his neck and stretching his arms above him, he was the picture of lethargy. Not a word came from his muzzle, as he did not want to risk making his situation any worse.

Soon enough, the awkward silence got to the point where he simply had to say something.

"She ate her breakfast first, if that's what you're worried about," he said plainly, stretching his muzzle almost obscenely in a yawn. Finally, a faint smile crossed his face and he tried to lighten things up a bit. "Besides, it's her birthday tomorrow. She can be spoiled one or two days a year, can't she?" he asked.

Sarah frowned, but forced herself to relax about the whole issue. It really was _not_ a big deal, but one of her chief concerns was always to make sure that Stith was not spoiled. She had seen the results of over indulging children, and it always led to disobedience and constant want. Just like any habit, it was possible to break it, but also like any habit, it was better not to even start.

In fact, she had occasionaly considered not even celebrating Stith's birthday with gifts so that, when she got older and wanted more and more expensive things, she would not be disappointed when she did not get them. At their income of sub-poverty level, even tiny favors could be a problem.

However, she would be getting at least a few gifts that afternoon. Sarah had bought her a small gift, and then one more that Nodyr had picked out for her. There was also the possibility that a few of Sarah's friends would stop be with something, as well as Stith's occasional baby sitter, Oya.

Even though Nodyr stayed home, he still needed assistance from time to time. This was especially true on the days where all of the cartoons were reruns, leaving Stith with nothing to do but run around the house until she wore herself to exhaustion while Nodyr tried to keep her from destroying things. Unfortunately, Stith took considerably longer to tire than he, leaving her to terrorize the home after all of his energy had been spent. This was when Oya's help was appreciated.

She was a tiny mantrin of the Orkeht race, and even by their standards she was short at just barely reaching five feet when wearing sandals. She was growing old in age, and this was evident from the faint lines along her muzzle, and the dulling horizontal stripes that run from her back, down to her tail tip. Despite her age, her eyes still shined with awareness, as well as experience from many years on the planet. She was often very timid and shy, but she possessed enough experience to know when someone was trying to take advantage of her.

It was just then that Oya herself showed up at the front door. Sarah momentarily pulled herself away from her family to answer it.

"Hi Oya," Sarah said as she pulled open the door. She knew who it was from a one-way viewing window near the top of it. "You'll have to excuse me. I just got home," she then added in reference to her messy hair that was still clinging to her forehead, as well as her crooked, unbuttoned work shirt.

In the Orkeht's hands was an equally tiny gift box, although in her hands it appeared rather large. The box was wrapped in yellow paper with a pink ribbon, her favorite colors. "I've got Stith's present," she said in a tiny, rather high-pitched voice, lifting the box up to just under her muzzle like an offering. She looked up at Sarah, craning her neck back to meet her eyes.

"Well come in," Sarah said, obvious work fatigue weighing down her voice. As she spoke she gestured with one hand for Oya to step inside, which she did rather timidly, as though she were expecting to be hit if she complied.

Once the tiny mantrin was inside, Sarah called to her daughter. "Stith! Oya's here to see you."

"She can't have my cake!" Stith was heard calling rather rudely from the living room.

Oya and Sarah waited momentarily, exchanging glances at one another. Sarah appeared very angry at Stith's lack of manners, while Oya wore an expression of shock. After all, she had never planned to take any cake; her ethnicity rendered her intolerant to high levels of sweets and, for that matter, meat, although the latter was her choice. Because Sarah and Nodyr had the freedom of being omnivores, it was not too much of a hassle for them to share food; however, it was a true pain trying to eat in the homes of her strictly carnivorous Logri friend and for her to eat in Sarah's. Oya's vegeterian habits did render her very healthy because of the high level of vitamins, relatively little fat, and virtually no extra sodium or sugar consumed, but it still made sharing meals an occasional hassle.

Shortly thereafter, Stith was carried in on Nodyr's back. The elder mantrin's ears were slightly flattened as they splayed to either side, and Stith's grinning muzzle was perched in between them. Her legs hung over Nodyr's and were held fast by his hands; her own arms were slung around his neck. This was the only convenient way any mantrin could carry another of any size; otherwise, the legs got in the way. They would either drag on the floor, extend inconveniently out to the side, or otherwise simply get in the way.

As soon as Stith was within her arms' reach, Oya's demeanor changed almost completely. A warm smile drew over her aging lips and she reached a delicate claw up to playfully tickle underneath Stith's chin. The young mantrin cooed and closed her eyes, almost exaggerating the pleasure. "There she is," Oya crooned to her, taking on an almost maternal personality in a complete contrast with her usual shyness. This was Oya when she was exceptionally happy.

"You still can't have my cake," Stith suddenly said matter-of-factly, interrupting the moment. "It's mine. _Erseh_ made it just for me."

"Yeah. You can't have her cake," Nodyr replied in a mocking, teasing tone. His tongue protruded from the tip of his muzzle, and he crossed his eyes to the best of his ability. Because of the occasion, his quiet nature had also changed; when Nodyr was happy he became almost childish in his ways.

Sarah, on the other hand, had not changed one bit. It was often hard to determine her mood; when asked what was wrong during a down period she would often lie and it was difficult to realize this. This annoyed Nodyr to no end and was the cause of most of their occasional mild feuds. Females of both species could be impossible to read sometimes.

"Oh, yes she can," she said, abruptly poking the leathery, beak-like tip of Stith's muzzle. The young mantrin made a playful growling sound and nearly toppled off of Nodyr as she leaned forward to try and nip. "She deserves a piece of cake just for putting up with you," she added teasingly.

With a sigh, as though her mood had suddenly been deflated, Oya quickly interjected. "No, it's okay. Even if I wanted some I couldn't have it," she said simply. "It's for Stith," she added with a smile as she patted the young mantrin on the shoulder.

Stith stuck her own tongue out in imitation of her adoptive father. "Yep all for me! It's my birthday!" Her tail playfully beat against Nodyr's back, much like on an excited cat that was about to receive a dish of gourmet tuna.

"Happy Birthday," Oya said. "I'll let you celebrate now. I'm going to go back home."

"Bye Oya," Sarah said, opening the door for her.

"_Tearhu_," Nodyr said in his native language as the petite Orkeht stepped onto the equally tiny front porch.

As Sarah was halfway through closing the door, she paused, scratched at her round nose, and then cleared her throat with a percussive "ehem." "Oya, wait a minute."

"What is it?" she asked with a worried tone lingering in her voice, glancing over her right shoulder at the seemingly upset human with her ears drooping to her neck.

Sarah turned to her daughter. "Don't you have something else to tell her Stith?"

This Stith thought about for a moment. Her muzzle wrinkled into multiple comical contortions as she invested way too much thought for such a simple question; it was not long before Sarah began to wonder if she would start drooling from all of the humming and eh'ing droning from her mouth. "Oh yeah!" she said, her ears suddenly perking to attention along with the rest of her body. "It's my birthday!" Had Stith shone any more teeth in the smile that followed, her entire face would have been overtaken in a dazzling display of sparkling white.

"No not that Stith, and your birthday isn't until tomorrow." Sarah said. It was impossible for her to hold back a long frustrated groan. Arms akimbo, her fists dug into her hips. "You have something _else_ to tell her."

"Umm," the young mantrin said, gnawing on her bottom lip in confusion. "Uhhh…."

This was becoming painful to watch. Sarah could almost hear Stith's brain cels sizzling as she continued to ponder what ever it could be that she needed to say. Before she screamed, and it certainly appeared that she was about to, Nodyr quickly brought his muzzle to Stith's nearest ear and whispered. "You need to thank her for the presents."

"Oh," Stith said. Her lips remained stuck in the "oh" position momentarily as the thought registered. "_Myrsya_," she said grudgingly.

"That's better. Thanks Nodyr," Sarah said, feeling her frustration subside.

Oya accepted the forced showing of thanks, and then after another round of goodbyes, finally left.

Sarah shook her head sadly as she closed the door and turned to face her family. "I thought you knew better than that by now Stith," she said.

"Oh don't be so hard on her," Nodyr said, smiling. "This should be a happy time." With this, he set Stith down and lowered himself to give her a tight hug from behind. She playfully squirmed and gasped from the firm embrace.

"I know," she said softly, brushing a sweaty tangle of hair from her eyes. "She just needs to have some manners, especially to someone older like Oya." Sarah stepped past her daughter and in front of Nodyr. "You're right, we should be happy now. It's time for a fun weekend with you and Stith." As she spoke, she leaned against him, resting her head on his barrel-like chest, a trait that was common in mantrin males of all races, but most noticeably in Sogowans, the race of which he shared more than half of the traits.

"Let's get ready for tonight," Sarah said after a moment of peace with her mate. "But first, I need a shower."


	3. Camping Day

**Chapter 3**

_Camping Day_

Later that afternoon, a special table cloth was laid across the kitchen table. It was special for more than one reason: not only was it Stith's birthday, but it was the first time any cloth had been used on the table. Generally Sarah disliked them, but today she would make an exception. It was applied as neatly as possible, limited though by the rectangular shape of the cloth and the round shape of the table. Wrinkles popped up everywhere, like many little speed bumps; Sarah had tried to iron them out but eventually gave up, as they were as stubborn as that strand of hair that refuses to lie flat no matter how many times it is wet. The cloth was yellow for the most part, Stith's favorite color. Along its borders was a trim in pastel blue and pink, which, if not for the stylized inscriptions of wishes for a happy birthday covering the cloth, would have easily been mistaken for an Easter product.

The cloth had been purchased at a thrift store only moments before, along with a last minute present for Stith. It was nothing special, but she would appreciate it. After all, what preadolescent child could resist a jumbo sized, multicolored lollipop, with a button on its handle that caused lights to flash and also make a comical whirring sound? The bad news was, Stith could not, and she would be playing with the handle for at least the next month, running through the house pretending it was a laser gun and "shooting" Nodyr, and then Sarah when she came home from work.

"Can we open presents now?" Stith asked, suddenly appearing in the kitchen, and rocking back and forth on her feet.

"Soon," Sarah said, making one last attempt to dewrinkle the cloth. No luck. "You need to get a bath first, okay?" Before she had even made it to the midpoint of that sentence, she knew exactly what Stith was going to say.

"No!" she yelped, horrified and taking a step back. "Why?"

Sarah pushed the last chair in before she spoke. "Because your father says you haven't had one yet today."

"_Erseh_'s lying!" she said defensively, lying herself.

Sarah thought about this for a brief moment, lightly tapping her fingers on her lips. It was pretty obvious to her that her daughter did not want a bath, as well as being obvious that she would lie without any guilt when she was trying to avoid something unpleasant. "Let me smell then," she eventually said.

Reluctantly Stith stepped forward, knowing she was doomed for sure. At a snail's pace she raised a trembling hand, turning her head away and tightly clenching her eyes as if she was expecting to be hit.

Sarah took her hand in hers, then brought it up to her nose. "Well, you smell fine," she said after a quick sniff, taking note of the very faint leathery smell. "But," she added, once she saw Stith relax; the young mantrin appeared to deflate when she ceased holding her breath. Before speaking again she turned the hand over in hers, inspecting it carefully, and perhaps a little too carefully just to tease Stith. "You're dirty though," she said. "I want you to get a bath."

"But-"

"If you don't, you aren't getting any presents," she quickly said before there was ample time to protest. There was no argument, although she was obviously trying to do it. Stith's muzzle continued to begin to form a word, but nothing came out. "Now do you need me to help you, or are you a big girl?" Sarah finally asked.

"Big girl," she answered softly, her eyes glued to the tiled floor in defeat. Once it finally occurred to her that she really was going to have to get a bath, she scampered off to the bathroom. A few moments later, the rush of water was heard.

With her fingers crossed that Stith was actually getting in the tub, Sarah left the kitchen and went into her bedroom. Inside it was dark, with the exception of light a tiny lamp on their dresser; in the darkness it nearly seemed as though the wall was glowing in the corner where the lamp was. Its soft, warm light was gentle and comforting, much like Nodyr could be when he was not in the usual playful mood. He was in bed, lying on his back with the blanket pulled up to his hips. He was not asleep, but was threatening to be.

The subdued atmosphere of the room, along with the cozy appearance of the bed was too inviting to just ignore. Even if Sarah had not planned to lie down for a few minutes, she would have been obligated to do so.

The bed was cheap, but very soft with the numerous thick blankets that covered it. She climbed onto it as she sighed peacefully, and then after a moment leaned over to lightly scratch Nodyr on his bare chest.

The mantrin purred softly, his eyes opening to thin slits as he thoroughly enjoyed the attention. As he continued to purr, Nodyr rolled his head over to the side to face her and spoke. "What's Stith doing?" he asked.

"She's getting a bath," Sarah said. "I think."

"Well I trust her," he said, not fully believing his words. As he spoke, both of his ears swiveled to attention, scanning the air for any signs of running bath water. After an eerily quiet moment, the distant hiss of the water came to his attention, as did the seemingly playful sounds of splashing. "I think she's actually doing it," he said grinning with pride, as though he had actually had an influence on her actions.

Sarah pondered this, slipping into deep thought as she was in disbelief that Stith might be doing what she had been told, especially in the case of getting a bath. "Well this is a miracle," she said, although she knew better than to be too naïve in Stith's direction; unfortunately Nodyr did not always know better himself. "Care to celebrate?"

He paused. Nodyr was pretty sure he knew what she had meant, and he felt both of his hearts trade places as the thought sunk into his mind. "Eh," he fidgeted, sitting up in the bed. "Right now?" He was blushing so intensely that his face ended up twisted into a nearly pained expression. His ears felt equally as hot as his face, and had a pitcher of water been near them, the water would have turned into steam. "Eh, um, well, um, Sarah, uh."

"You're so cute," she chuckled, brushing her delicate fingers over his flushed cheek. "If you still aren't ready, that's fine."

Sheepishly, he glanced down at his lap, and not even aware that he was clenching the sheet in his fingers as it was pulled higher and higher over his bare chest. "I, I just don't want to hurt you," he said softly into the sheet.

Although the majority of his fear was just embarrassment, the spoken concern was most valid. At seven feet tall, and nearly four hundred pounds, he more than doubled her weight. It did not help that he was slightly overweight either. Also of concern was that a male mantrin of his size tended to be rather thick in certain areas, and was never meant to be compatible with a human. This size was a well-known fact, and made many the human male ripe with envy. However much to their relief, the more human sized Orkehts were no better off than they. Nodyr was not an Orkeht however.

"I know, it's okay," Sarah said as she scooted close to him so that she could rest her head on his shoulder. "We'll just work on your kissing some more for now. You're getting better," she added encouragingly as she massaged his slightly chubby belly.

Purring, Nodyr closed his eyes and rested his head on his arms. Nothing outside of a personal tragedy would have caused the tranquil smile on his face to fade. "This will do just fine," he said, breathing out a happy sigh as he felt her delicate fingers on his tummy. Although small, her hands were always warm to the touch, and feeling her rubbing his skin sent pleasant chills throughout his body that were equally as warm.

He felt her work past his hip to his thighs, which only made his chills worse. Nodyr could not help but purr like a spoiled kitten, and as he opened his eyes once more, he saw her smiling from knowing how happy he was. For a few minutes she stayed there, tenderly rubbing over his muscles, and then worked up to the first knee that was considerably larger than a human's, as was the case with all mantrins.

"These legs always intrigue me," Sarah said, lightly tapping his knee.

His ears twitched comically. "I could say the same," he said. "Yours are so tiny. I don't know how you stand on them."

"It's easy," she said as she rested her head on his chest while continuing the rub. The sound of his dual heartbeats could be heard like two distant drums. As she lay against him, her hand tenderly rubbed down to his tail, and she could feel the chills it elicited, not to mention the deep purring that she could feel resonating from within his deep chest.

It was at that moment that the peace was ruined. Stith made her grand entrance. The door to their bedroom swung open, and there she was, dripping water all over the carpet. A soggy puddle was forming at her feet, and this puddle was the end of a long trail of water leading from the bathtub.

"I need a towel!" the young mantrin chimed.

Sarah hopped out of the bed in much the same fashion one would when suffering from a sudden leg cramp, in both legs. "You're getting the carpet wet!" she said nervously. "Get back to the bathroom! I thought I left you one."

Stith appeared to have seen the face of death. She stood there motionless, with her eyes wide enough to put a hand in the socket. Her leathery beak appeared to form a word, but then changed its mind. Just before she received a not so gentle pop on her bare rump, she yelped and skittered back to the bathroom.

Sarah met her there and quickly opened the ceiling high cabinet beside the tub. There were in fact a few towels left, but Stith could not see them as they were up on the highest shelf. She pulled one out and unfolded it, feeling quite sheepish. "Sorry I yelled at you," she said as she wrapped the tiny mantrin in it and began to dry off her back. The towel was yellow and fuzzy, made from a pseudo-cotton that only felt half as fine as the real thing. It was only half as effective as well.

She worked extra diligently to get Stith dry, taking extra care to get the tail and ear tips which had an amazing ability to continue dripping even after they were thoroughly dry. Sarah had come to believe that mantrin tails and ears produced water on their own, and would begin to leak just when she thought the coast was clear. Nodyr had the same problem as well after he had dried off, only the problem was much worse since he was much bigger.

"We just can't afford new carpet if it gets ruined," she continued. "You know that."

Stith stuck her tongue out upon feeling her ear rubbed a tad too roughly, although Sarah did not see it. "I know," she said, and had her ears not been occupied they would have drooped.

"Are we still friends?" Sarah asked. Her thin lips curled into a smile.

"Maybe," Stith replied, holding onto the word mischievously. She suddenly clenched her eyes tightly as the towel suddenly went over the front of her face. "Do I still get presents?" she asked once the coast was clear.

"If you forgive me," Sarah said.

There was no need to think about that one. "Okay!" Stith said gleefully, and then grabbed onto Sarah's leg; she hugged it in a suffocating embrace.

"Glad we're still friends." Sarah proceeded to pry the mantrin off of her leg and then playfully rubbed her between the ears, eliciting a happy hum from her. "Now go get dressed and we'll open presents."

Stith was almost out of view before Sarah had even finished her sentence.

The following morning, the sun had only begun to peer its head over the horizon as Stith's eyes leisurely opened like flowers opening in their infancy. Her room was still dark. The only thing that illuminated it was her moon crescent night-light. Before too long however, the sun's warm rays would finally find their way through her curtain, bringing peace to the room instead of the frightening dark that spawned monsters under the bed and in the closet, all of whom preyed exclusively on young mantrin girls named Stith. Until then, it was still dawn, or as the local mantrins called it: "_lii'saa_," the time of sunrise.

Squeezing her teddy bear tightly in her arms, Stith awaited the moment when it was safe. The nightlight could only do so much to scare away monsters, and she had to be absolutely sure they were gone before she dared to get out of bed. She watched the ceiling momentarily, feeling her hearts beating with excitement; it was her birthday after all.

Often she could make out little patterns from the ceiling beads, much like one may do while watching clouds. One such pattern was the moogagoose, an animal Stith had made up that dwelled on her ceiling. It was something like a peanut shaped rat with big floppy ears and two tails. In her imagination, it was blue furred. Stith decided that the moogagoose was her pet. Another image was Mrs. Big Feet, who was basically a smiley face with big shoes. A third character she saw in the beads was the _yoble_ prince of bedtime. She did not like him, as he made children go to bed when all of the good shows she was not supposed to watch came on.

Otherwise, a _yoble_ was a real animal that was more of a harmless nuisance than a bedtime enforcer. They were small, pear shaped animals with yellow skin and large hind legs. There were no forelimbs, which added to the odd appearance. A _yoble_ could not cause any harm to a human, nor a mantrin, and in fact they were quick to flee if anyone approached. However, they could be disruptive looters and would sometimes become equally bothersome as a den of rabbits in someone's garden.

The sun was beginning to do a better job of illuminating the room, but it was still not good enough, Stith thought. Some monsters might be brave enough to still be there. She waited a little longer, still watching the ceiling as if one of her cartoons was being projected on its surface. Her imagination caught something new as she lay there, right next to Mrs. Big Feet. The arrangement of beads closely resembled a mantrin head, despite being a little more wide than normal. One of his eyes was missing, or he was squinting. She could not tell for sure, but named him "Blindy" anyway.

"Hi Blindy!" she said cheerfully. "I love you so much!" Puckering her lips, she made several rapid kissing sounds, and then nearly fell out of her bed from giggling so fervently.

Eventually it was light enough for her wishes. Yanking off her blanket, and tossing the teddy bear into the far corner, Stith leapt out of bed and flew across the room with enough zip that she nearly stumbled over her long nightshirt that was threatening to ensnare her feet anyway.

She flung the door open, bounded down the hallway, and eventually found her parents' room. Their door was jerked open with the same amount of adolescent grace, and within the next breath she had leapt onto their bed, firmly planting herself on Nodyr's chest.

"Hey it's my birthday good morning get up now!" she said with overflowing enthusiasm. Stith began to thump on his chest like it was a primal set of drums. "_Erseh_, get up now! It's _lii'saa_. It's my birthday! Time for vacation!"

"Stith, dear," Sarah grumbled, her voice croaking like a fat toad. "We'll be up later. It's too early."

Even if they had not stayed up late making sure everything was packed, Sarah would have had no desire to wake. The Solbrecht day was a few hours longer than Earth's, and even after a few hundred years of living on the planet, the humans had still not fully adjusted to the longer day. Fatigue was not uncommon, and sleeping disorders affected nearly a fifth of the human population.

"_Ahmo_, come on. Get up now!" Stith said again with her tail swishing behind her. She began to pound her fists on the sleeping human as well, without any consideration that the beating may actually hurt.

Sarah moaned in her quasi state of slumber, then gently pushed Stith's impatient hands off of her. "Okay I'm getting up," she said. She smacked her lips, yawned, and blinked her eyes several times before sitting up in her nightgown. "But you need to leave so your father and I can get dressed. Then we can get ready to go camping," she said as sweetly as possible after having been used as a punching bag.

"But," Stith protested.

"No Stith," Nodyr said, making shooing gestures with his fingers. "We'll be out soon. Go watch your cartoons."

"Oh!" Stith's ears threatened to leap off of her head from how quickly they sprung to attention. Quickly she scrambled off of the bed, not paying much attention to where her feet were jabbing, which happened to be into Nodyr's side and hip. The young mantrin's tail slapped them both on her way to the floor. Stith was hastily gone with a slam of the bedroom door.

Sarah winced from the loud slam. Once the house had finished shaking, she climbed back under the sheets and nuzzled up against Nodyr; his breath warmed the back of her neck. "Are you excited?" she asked after finally getting comfortable.

An uncomfortable silence followed. He finally answered when Sarah looked back at him with a worried expression. "Yeah, yeah I am," he said.

"Is something wrong?" Sarah asked. She rubbed his chest in hopes of providing some comfort.

It took another uncomfortable moment before he spoke. "Just the news last night. There was another attack."

"_Wyr'Mo'Gwi _again?" she asked.

"They think so. Whoever did it hit the governor's building again, and several inside were killed," he said, speaking in a near whisper in case Stith returned."

Sarah snuggled up closer to him. "That's horrible," she said. "But no one is sure who did it?"

"No," he said. "But it had to have been them. No one else would have done such a thing. You know how much they hate humans. I'm worried they'll be back and come by the campground."

"But you're a mantrin," she said.

"But you aren't," he said, bringing an arm around her and holding her tenderly. He nuzzled his muzzle into her hair and sighed. "I'm really worried about you. What if they got you, or worse?"

Sarah craned her neck back and gave him a kiss under his jaw. "Relax," she said. "No one even knows if they actually exist anymore. They haven't actually been seen in what, twenty years? Besides, why would they want to hurt me?"

"Because of me," Nodyr said sadly. "If they knew we were together, I don't even want to think of what they'd do."

"Relax dear, please. Let me do all of the worrying, I'm good at it. And I'm not worried, so you shouldn't be," she said in hopes of getting him to smile. The attempt was in vain, and after a brief silence, she heard a sniff. She looked up at him again, and noticed that his eyes were moist. "Are you crying?" she asked.

"Maybe," he said after a moment. His voice scratched like a damaged record. "Maybe, maybe we shouldn't be mates. It's nothing but trouble. The stupid government won't even recognize that we are together. Everyone hates us."

"Nodyr, stop saying that. I don't hate you, and you don't hate me, and that's what's important. In fact, I love you." She gave him another kiss on the side of his muzzle to emphasize her point. "And that makes it worth it. No matter what."

"Yeah," he said reluctantly and wiped at his tears. "I love you too. _Faey wierg._" Nodyr gave her a tight squeeze and did his best to smile. He then brushed his beak through her hair once more, which felt great to both of them.

"What does that mean again?" she asked.

"It doesn't translate very well," he said. "But," he drew his tongue across her cheek before continuing, "I'll love you forever is close." His hand lightly stroked at her hip.

"Thanks. And you know I feel the same," Sarah said. "Are you ready to get up? I'm sure Stith's getting impatient."

"I'm still worried, but let's go. Knowing Stith is happy will make me feel better at least." After giving her one more lick, this time on her neck, Nodyr heaved his body out of bed. He moaned deeply as he stretched his back, arms, and legs, and then gave his back a quick twist to pop his tight spine. He yawned widely in protest of having to get up, so widely in fact that Sarah was worried his jaw had unhinged. Groggily smacking his lips a few times, he began to unbutton his pajama shorts, which was what he always slept in. Before finishing, he looked at Sarah. "Could you go watch Stith so I can get a bath before we leave?" he asked.

"Sure," she said. Sarah hopped out of bed, did a few stretches of her own, and then hurried out of the room.

The campground was basically makeshift. The only thing that remained constant were the sparse facilities that were provided. There were a few picnic tables, all arranged in a sloppy rectangle along the forest border. Beside them were a few grills, approximately one per six tables, and none had the charcoal needed for them to be of much use. More often than not, visitors brought their own battery-powered equipment. Far at the other end was a petite area with playground equipment, including a number of sets that were more mantrin friendly due to their larger size and tail openings in the swing seats. Other than that, there was not much, not even portable restrooms.

In fact, there were not even any designated boundaries for the campgrounds. There was no check in area. There was not even a park sign, nor was the place clearly labeled on a map of the city. Needless to say, it was a relatively unofficial area, but everyone knew about it from word of mouth, much like the polluted river at the south end of the city. It was widely known that the river was tainted, but publicly, everyone kept the foul information neatly swept under the rug.

_Wu-wu-wump!_

The car doors shut in rapid succession as Sarah, Nodyr, and Stith stepped out of their vehicle. It was a large van that Sarah did not care for, nor could she really afford; the only reason they had it was because it was the only thing that her large mate could comfortably fit into. There were vehicles designed specifically for mantrins, as their unusual leg configuration made it nearly impossible to sit comfortably in a human vehicle, but in the same way Nodyr could not drive a human vehicle, Sarah could not drive one built for mantrins. They were simply too different. Since she would be driving the most, they purchased the most appropriate compromise.

"I hope we didn't forget anything," Nodyr said once they were a few yards away from their parking place. His ears nervously twitched.

"Nodyr, that's the twentieth time you've asked that-" she paused, cracking a smile as she looked up at him. "-in the past minute." She playfully poked his hip, causing him to gasp and leap back. "You didn't forget your ticklishness, did you?" she asked playfully.

"Maybe not," he said as his ears folded backward in the manner of a defensive cat. He pretended to cower, crossing his arms and holding his hands at his sides as though he were protecting a pair of open wounds. All that he really managed to do, however, was look incredibly silly in the eyes of his female mate, who could not help but laugh at his faux alarm.

With an innocent smile on her face, Sarah quickly grabbed hold of him and applied a kiss on his muzzle that caused Stith to make rapid vomiting sounds in the background. The young mantrin never did like to see them kiss, or anyone for that matter, but like all children, seeing her parents kiss was always extra traumatic. The disgust had little effect. Nodyr returned the favor, kissing the best way he could by licking the side of her cheek. His face was overcome with a giddy grin as Sarah playfully wiped herself off, and then returned the saliva to its owner's shirt with a quick stroke.

"Hurry up!" Stith suddenly said, hopping up and down like a living pogo stick as she tried to remind them that she was still there. "Go put the tent up!" Currently she was wearing a new shirt that she had received for her birthday, one that Oya had knitted for her. It was slightly too big, but she would grow into it soon.

Nodyr turned away from Sarah momentarily, to address Mrs. Impatient. "I will in a minute," he said cordially as he glanced down at the long box under his arm that held the tent in question. They had just purchased it on the way to the campground at one of many thrift stores that decorated the city in every corner imaginable. It was not the best tent ever made, and in fact it was probably one of the worst tents ever made, but for their family it would have to do. At the least it was extra large. It needed to be, or else Nodyr would have had to have remained curled into a tight ball the entire time just to fit his legs inside the already miniscule space. Fortunately the tent was going to be quite large, or at least that was how it looked in the picture. With a bit of luck he would be able to stretch his legs out, if only just a small amount.

While Stith edgily swished her tail, Sarah stepped around and took her hand. "Dear, let's go look around while _erseh_ sets up the tent, okay?"

There was little argument. "Okay!" Stith exclaimed, and then took off, nearly dragging Sarah with her.

"You're not going to help me?" Nodyr asked, his muzzle wrinkling in surprise.

"I am," Sarah replied. "I'm getting her—" she gestured at Stith, "—away from you so she can't get in the way."

"Oh thanks," he said, and watched them trot off to the grounds, the young mantrin leading the way.

Nodyr hated tents.

He hated everything about them. Boxes and packages proclaiming them to be easy to assemble and the like were complete garbage; they were always made in some Earthbound country the name of which he could not even begin to pronounce. The instructions were always translated into ten or so different langauges; Nodyr could read the English and Preidogian instructions but they were wildly different from each other. It was their third or fourth try before it even resembled a tent, and five before Nodyr gave up and practically rewrote the instructions and produced something suitable for living beings to occupy.

It was a hideous mass of green plastic, vinyl chord, and aluminum piping that seemed as though even the slightest breeze would knock it over. What made the whole mess even more pathetic was the fact that had taken them just over an hour, and it still seemed as though it could only barely hold itself together. At least, he thought, the tent was very large. Five humans could have easily fit inside with comfort.

Unbeknownst to them, they were lucky that they did manage to get the tent up at all; furiously dark rain clouds had assembled in the sky and had started to thunder. The forecast had said that there was only a slight chance of rain, and they had not noticed the thunder until the tent was fully erected. It was literally seconds after the tent was finally put up that the first drops hit the ground, followed immediately by a violent torrent of warm late-summer rain that sent them diving into the object of their labor. Stith had to be grabbed by the collar of her shirt and nearly dragged in, otherwise she would have simply squealed and spent the rest of the day prancing around in the rain.

They huddled around each other, similar to scooting as close to a campfire fire as possible without burning themselves in a bleak midwinter snow. The ground was dry, at least, and it helped that the grass was nice and soft; this was aided by the sleeping bags and blankets that were unrolled beneath them.

Sarah was the first so speak. She crossed her arms over her chest, rubbing her forearms for warmth even though she did not even really need it, and leaned Nodyr's way. Then, glancing down at the empty ground in front of them, she opened her mouth to say:

"You know, it's not too late to—"

"We're staying," Nodyr suddenly interrupted, knowing somehow that she was about to say that it was not too late to give up on their vacation. He had just spent the last hour or so being outsmarted and witted by a box of plastic, vinyl and aluminum, he told her, and was not about to let it ruin his weekend. They could leave if they wanted, but he was staying.

Suddenly horrified, Stith spoke up, her eyes wide with concern. "Are we leaving!" she asked.

"I don't know Junebug, ask _ahmo_," Nodyr quickly said. He glanced at Sarah as he spoke with an innocent glare of accusation.

"No, we're not leaving," Sarah said, then gave her mate a light shove. "Don't worry about it. I wasn't serious."

Stith beamed with relief, and then leaned back so that she was resting in Nodyr's lap. She teasingly stuck her tongue out at him as if to say "Sorry, you lose." She was quickly greeted with his own tongue, and for nearly a minute they become locked in a heated duel of tongue war that become sillier by the second. Eventually it was too much for the young mantrin and she was overcome with giggles.

"I win," Nodyr said proudly. He gave her belly a light tickle as he spoke, which only made the giggling worse.

Sarah smirked, poking him on the nearest arm. "If you were only as good at getting her to behave as you were making her laugh, we'd be in good shape," she said with her thin lips curled into a grin.

"Hey I've got to be good at something, don't I?" he asked, diverting his attention to Sarah, although his fingers continued to tickle without mercy.

"You do, and you're not a bad kisser, are you?" she said, still with her proud smirk. "Want to do it some more?" she added, just to tease their daughter.

Suddenly, Stith rolled out of his lap in the most awkward way possible with such large legs. She made a few hacking sounds much like if she had accidentally swallowed something larger than her throat was meant to handle. "Eww," she slurred.

"Would you stop that?" Sarah asked her with much frustration. "Stith, it's okay. When two people love each other, sometimes they like to kiss. There's nothing wrong with it."

Stith pouted, crossing her arms over her chest as her tail beat at the tent behind her, creating a soft _thoomp thoomp_ sound. "It's gross. And," she trailed off as she gnawed on her lip. "it's weird."

There was some amount of truth to what she had said. Kissing, as humans knew it, was a foreign idea to all of the mantrins until recent times. The physical demands of pursing one's lips to do so was not always the easiest thing for mantrins to do, especially those with slightly harder tips to their faux beak, such the Gouregs that retained some firmness more than any other race due to their diet that included shell fish. Sogowans had it easier with a softer muzzle tip, so Nodyr, and Stith had she wanted, were able to kiss more "naturally" with their thick leathery muzzles.

Naturally mantrins would lick instead of kissing, which could be just as pleasant, if not more so with their large tongues. This was an intimate gesture, especially if done on the sensitive ears, of whose touch was only allowed among family and close friends in most of their cultures. Since Sarah was having Nodyr kiss, he had been trying to get her to lick back as well when he did it. The gesture was pathetic at best, and after a while they decided that there was no longer much of a point in it for her to try. However, she was certainly happy to let him do it.

Nodyr smiled at Stith. "Junebug, it might be weird, but it sure is nice." Upon saying this he leaned forward and showed Sarah just what he meant. While kissing her, his hand felt its way to Stith muzzle, and promptly held it closed before she could interrupt them with more nauseated gagging. The hold was not very tight as he did not wish to hurt her, but was just enough to get his message across not to cause another scene.

"Thanks," Sarah said, more so to keeping Stith quiet than the kiss, once they had broken away from it.

"So what are we going to do?" Stith said quickly, in hopes that she could get her parents' minds off of gross activities. There were far more pleasant things that she wanted to talk about, such as candy.

"Well," Nodyr said as he wiped a bit of saliva off of the tip of his muzzle. "We're going to go swimming and for a nice walk once the rain is gone."

"When is that?" she asked, gripping her feet and rocking back and forth on her rump.

"We don't know dear," Sarah said to her. "We'll just have to wait."


	4. Nodyr's Fear

**Chapter 4**

_Nodyr's Fear_

The good news was that the rain was short lived. No more than five minutes had passed before it had reached the peak of its strength, and then fizzled away to nothing. The bad news was that the combination of the freshly added moisture, along with the sun that was just beginning to reappear from behind the clouds, caused the campground to feel like no less than a sauna. The weather was hot enough to begin with, but now the additional humidity made tolerating the heat a futile effort for most. The air was so thick at the moment that one could easily be convinced that he or she could swim through it.

Fortunately for Sarah, she had brought along several ice packs to wear under her clothes, as well as on her wrists and temple. For the humans at this time of year, the packs were nearly a necessity. Some of the mantrins would wear them too.

Upon hearing the rain cease, Sarah stepped out of the tent only to be greeted by the suffocating air. She pulled back a few strands of hair that had instantly begun to stick to her forehead, and then had to lean over momentarily as she was feeling slightly dizzy. As she did so, her hair fell back in her face. She blew it out of her eyes but it did not wish to cooperate and came right back to annoy her.

Muttering a few obscene words about it under breath, Sarah stood upright once more, and then fished into her pocket for a hair band. She was surprised to have not only found one, but to have found three. She pulled out the first one that her fingers fell upon. It was purple and was quickly applied so that most of her hair was in a ponytail, and thus unable to bother her any longer.

With the hair out of her way, Sarah scanned the grounds. There were a surprising number of campers there for such a brutal day. She saw twelve tents just in one direction, and judging from the size of them, they were all owned by mantrin families. Heat aside; this would not have surprised her as the humans were outnumbered nine to one anyway. The ironic thing was that, despite their small numbers, the humans controlled nearly everything and had most of the wealth. Their status often reflected their attitudes too. Too many feelings of human superiority were rampant.

So far, Sarah had been right about who owned the tents. Three families had already stepped out into the open. All three were families of Goureg mantrins. This fact made her chuckle. It was no surprise that the single race that was truly adapted to this climate was the only one that she had seen so far that afternoon.

For now she watched one of them, hoping that he would not see her and think that she was staring. Like all Gouregs he was very tall; even the females could grow to over seven feet at times. All he wore was a pair of shorts, and she could clearly see his lighter underbelly against the slate color of the rest of his skin. The skin possessed very slight variations in color over the entire body. In bright sunlight it would even appear to change hues as they moved and various tones were temporarily highlighted. Without a shirt, she could also see how refined with muscle his body was. Despite the muscle, he also had the appearance of being very sleek, and his graceful movements helped to emphasize this.

She watched him turn around and open the front of his tent. He poked his head inside and spoke, although Sarah could not hear what had been said. Then he stepped back and a female made her way outside, whom she took to be his mate. Even from this distance, Sarah could tell that she was very pretty, and she wore a loose tank top that helped show off her generously sized breasts, along with a form fitting skirt that showcased her shapely hips, rump, and tail. Sarah jokingly wondered if she had seen these two in a modeling catalogue.

This female reached her hand inside the tent and helped a younger mantrin outside; he or she appeared to be around Stith's age, perhaps a few years older. Sarah could not tell the sex of the child, as it was close to impossible to tell young mantrins apart until they spoke, and even then it could be difficult. Until they matured, the physical differences were too minute to be able to accurately judge whether it was a male or female. Sarah assumed that since the child was wearing the more masculine color of blue that it was a male, but she really was not sure. After all, Stith wore blue herself.

Sarah then turned her attention away from this family and back to her own. They were still in the tent. She knelt down and crawled inside, only to find Stith and Nodyr munching away on the last of the birthday cake that they had brought along in their cooler.

"Where'd you go?" Nodyr said, his voice muffled from a generous piece of the cake.

"I didn't go anywhere," Sarah replied. "I was just seeing if it was safe to go out yet."

"Is it?" Smiling, he prematurely swallowed, and then licked at his lips. Afterward, the rest of the cake was aggressively shoved into his mouth, as though he was starving.

"Other than being very hot, yes. A lot of others are going out now," she said.

"Hi, _ahmo!_" Stith finally said once she had finished her cake.

"Hi, Stith." Sarah scooted inside until she was next to her, and directly in front of Nodyr. "Are you ready to go for a walk?" she asked.

Stith nodded rapidly in response. It took her ears a few moments to realize that her head had stopped moving as they continued to wobble even after the nod.

"We want to go swimming in the lake too," Nodyr said. "Can we?"

"That sounds like a good idea to me, once it cools off some tonight. Now, why did you have to eat the cake before lunch?" she suddenly asked.

Nodyr looked very proud of himself for having eaten it. His chest puffed out, and he grinned goofily and triumphantly. "Because it's so good!" he said.

"Mmhmm, mmhmm," was Stith's response.

"Well," Sarah said as she reached up and wiped some of the icing that was still on Nodyr's lips and then licked it off of her finger. "You're right, it's delicious." She admitted this reluctantly as she did not want to encourage him to give Stith cake before she had had a real meal. For now she let it slide however, as it _was_ Stith's birthday.

"Nodyr, where are my ice packs?" Sarah asked once it was clear that they were done eating. "I can't stay out any longer than I did without them."

"Where else?" Nodyr said as he pushed the cooler over to her.

Sarah made no comment as she took it beside her and removed the lid. Inside was a large jug of drinking water that was destined to be used up quickly; fortunately there was a water pump on the grounds that could be used to refill the jug, as well as to drink from on one's own. Along with the few ice packs that she was going to wear on their hike, there were also a few items, such as lunchmeat, that would not have fared too well under the sun. For the most part however, they had brought food that would not have perished, such as granola bars and beef jerky. The latter was a favorite of Nodyr's.

Once she was ready, Sarah glanced at Stith and then Nodyr. "Are you ready to go for a walk now?" she asked.

Both nodded, however Stith was a tad more enthusiastic about it due to her recent intake of sugar.

The heat had not relinquished itself, much to Sarah's disappointment. Even the two mantrins were sweating liberally as the sun roasted their skin like a Thanksgiving turkey. If there was one advantage they had that Sarah envied, it was their large ears that helped to keep their bodies cool. Just now, she could see several veins along Nodyr's delicate ears as extra blood was coursing through them. Stith and Nodyr were also fortunate to have natural "sunglasses." Both had a dark ring around the eye that helped to greatly reduce the sun's glare.

"Is it too hot?" Nodyr asked with concern.

"I'll manage," Sarah said as she adjusted her headband, which was full of liquid coolant. "These things help. Now which way should we go?"

To answer this question, he polled Stith once the three had stepped out of the tent. Nodyr lowered himself so that he was muzzle to muzzle with her. "Would you like to go through the woods, or to the lake?" he asked. "There are nasty bugs in the woods," he added in hopes of persuading her to stay away because he did not really wish to go that way himself.

Stith stuck out her tongue to this comment. "Lake!" she said confidently.

Sarah grimaced and poked him in the ribs as she spoke. "You gave her such a fair choice," she said with overflowing sarcasm. "Stith, the forest is fine, if you would like to go."

Something was then whispered into the young mantrin's ear, causing her mouth to drop open in fright. "Lake!" she said again, with even more assurance this time.

"Nodyr, what did you say to her?" Sarah asked. Walking behind him, she gave a quick push up under his rump in hopes of getting him to resume a more normal stance. This way he would not be able whisper in their daughter's ear, and thus be unable to influence her further. He was too stubborn, not to mention heavy, for this to have done any good, and so Sarah then applied a forceful, yet playful smack near his tail.

He yelped and rose back to a resting position. "What?" He protested, raising his arms in a defensive gesture as though he expected to be hit once more. His tail swished from side to side heavily.

"What did you tell her?" she asked again as she dug her fists into her hips.

The large mantrin sighed as he looked down his muzzle at Sarah. "I just don't want to go in there, okay?" he said. "I'm still worried about that attack. What if someone from _Wyr'Mo'Gwi_ was here? They would kill you for being with me! They would probably kill Stith and me too! They could still be around. It's safer out in the open! Okay!" His voice had begun to tremble to near hysteria before he had finished. His ears were fully at attention, and his beating tail was threatening to whip someone, had they gotten close.

"You don't need to worry," Sarah said calmly. She brought a hand up to his cheek and patted it before stroking down to his chest where the hand ultimately rested. She could feel his chest rising and falling rapidly from his anxiety. "Calm down," she said and rubbed his chest, which fortunately helped a little. The speed of his pounding hearts relaxed, as did his ears. She watched them gradually lower back to a resting state.

"I don't know why you get so worked up over this," Sarah finally said once she was sure that he was calm. "You know there isn't even proof that the group still exists."

"Then why is it that every time something bad happens, it's only against humans? It has to be _Wyr'Mo'Gwi_. It has to," he said, and then sniffled.

Suddenly, Stith echoed the sniffle. Under the bright sunlight, the tears moistening her eyes were readily visible. "They're not going to hurt us, are they?" she asked with her jaw trembling.

"No Stith," Sarah said. "No one is going to hurt anyone." For further comfort she patted Stith on the shoulder.

Nodyr did the same, and then lifted her into his arms, affectionately nuzzling her cheek. "I'm not going to let anyone hurt you," he assured her, and then turned to Sarah, speaking emphatically. "That's why we aren't going into the woods."

"You're paranoid," Sarah muttered, but did not want to press the matter further in case she upset Stith more than she already was. "Weren't we going for a walk?"

"Yes," Nodyr said as he smiled, happy to be off of the subject as well.

Just before they left, Sarah caught two mantrins out of the corner of her eye staring at her and her family. They were Gouregs, much like those she had seen only a few minutes earlier. Even from her vague glimpse of them, she could see the horrified and angry looks on their faces, and she had a very sure idea about what was causing these expressions. If her ears had been honest, she was pretty sure that one of them muttered something about her and Nodyr being disgusting. For a brief moment she considered flashing them an obscene gesture. She decided against it however. Not only because it was not for Stith's eyes, but also because being rude would have only helped to validate what they were most likely thinking about her. Instead, she did something that proved to be far more satisfying.

"Nodyr," she said quickly in a whisper out of the corner of her mouth. "Put Stith down and lower your head. Now."

"Hmm?" he questioned as quietly as he could.

"Do it, trust me. Follow what I am about to do. I have a statement to make. And Stith, when he puts you down, turn around or you are going to be in trouble."

"Okay," he said as he reluctantly set Stith back on the ground, who miraculously obeyed.

The moment he had done this, Sarah leaned into him and brought her lips to his beak in the most overblown passionate kiss that she could perform. They were locked together for at least a minute. During the beginning of that time Nodyr had been completely taken by surprise, but once he had relaxed, the favor was returned generously. Soon she did not even have to try as he began to lick in return, drawing his large tongue over her round cheeks and lips, his eyes closed in pleasure.

There was a disgusted gasp from behind Sarah.

His hands stroked along her back and hips, as did hers along his back, which elicited shivers from both. Sarah's hands also rubbed as far down his tail as she could reach, and then back up using only her delicate fingertips; she felt him happily shuddering against her body, which was only amplified from the sensation of her lips against his leathery beak. Adding to this, she squeezed the rolls of flesh on his hips, and gave him a little peck between his nostrils, both of which she knew he loved like nothing else.

With satisfaction, Sarah caught the disturbed look of the two mantrins that had been watching her. It was probably just the sunlight, but from her viewpoint they appeared at least two shades paler. She temporarily broke from the kiss to taunt them, however, her hands continued to rub at his hindquarters, at one point giving his rump a firm squeeze that caused Nodyr to gasp and blush with embarrassment, despite how much he secretly enjoyed it.

"That's right!" Sarah called to her onlookers with triumph. "We're in love! Now quit staring, or we might show you just how much we really do love each other!" As she said this, her hand began to toy at his waistband, and had Stith not been there, and had Nodyr not suddenly jumped back in surprise, Sarah would have probably continued with what she had been planning.

The look of shock on the two Gouregs' faces was frozen, as were their bodies. The way they were acting, Sarah was convinced that they had seen one of Solbrecht's two moons explode, or something just as improbable. "I said quit staring!" she said again, and this time directed her attention mainly at the female. "He's mine now. Don't be jealous!"

With that, she turned and paid them no more attention, however she heard the male scream "sinner!" at her as they left with as much disgust as he could muster.

"Come on Stith," Sarah said, motioning with her hand as she walked north along the border of the forest.

The young mantrin caught up with them quickly. "What'd you do?" she asked with a spring in her step that was only encouraged by the sugar zipping through her system. Stith repeated herself twice. "What'd you do what'd you do?"

Sarah looked down at Stith and smiled. "Dear, I was just showing two prudes how much I love your father, and that it's perfectly okay."

"She was making me really happy too," Nodyr said, his voice quivering with giddiness.

"You didn't kiss did you?" Stith said sourly.

Nodyr opened his mouth. "W-"

"No," Sarah said quickly, cutting him off before he could speak. "We just hugged a lot. Like this." As she said this, she leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his back. Stith could not see, but Nodyr's tail was being rubbed with her legs as well.

"She grabbed my butt too!" he exclaimed quickly, turning to see Stith over his shoulder, and flashing the biggest grin he had had in a long time. His ears were still flushed a deep crimson. Just as he had anticipated, Stith was overcome with giggles. There was something about mentioning one's nether regions that she found hilarious.

The walk soon carried them to one of the many lakes that surrounded the area. It was nearly a mile long and bordered on the north and east edges by the large span of woodland area that officially marked the end of city's limits; no one had bothered to colonize past the forest, not yet anyhow. In the afternoon heat, many were out for a swim. For the first time Sarah finally saw where all of the human campers had gone.

At least ten human families were at the lake that afternoon. Most were in the water, but some were stretched out along the bank, coupled with portable fans and icy beverages to battle the heat. These accessories did little good, and so the more intelligent of the campers had jumped into the lake. The water itself was warm, but much cooler than the air, and was plenty refreshing.

She watched as one very hairy man rose out of the water with his daughter on his shoulders. Quickly, he gave her a little push and she was sent flying and squealing into the water. Sarah caught her joyous exclaims of "throw me again daddy!" over the distance. Before the girl had climbed back onto his shoulders, a young boy with a mess of dirty blond hair had splashed her from behind. He teased her, and then ducked under the water before she could get him. Sarah assumed this was the girl's brother as all three had the same hair color and complexion. Of course the fact that he was teasing her gave it away too. Only brothers could be so cruel.

Nodyr was watching the activities in the lake as well. "That looks refreshing," he said as he took notice of another human on a jet ski off in the distance. It looked like a lot of fun. He wondered why they never made such toys for mantrins. As far as he was concerned, his species could use them too, and just as well. The machine would simply have to be made wider to accommodate the mantrins' wide stance. At least he _thought_ this would work.

Nodyr scratched under his jaw as he returned his attention to Sarah and before speaking. "I sure hope we can go swimming later."

"Of course, the water looks really nice. I would get in right now if I was dressed for it," she said as she looked at Stith. "Did you want to go swimming?" she asked.

"Mmhmm Mmhmm!" Stith said. "I wanna go now too!" She began to trot toward the water but Nodyr quickly snagged her shoulder. She grunted in protest.

"We'll go swimming after our walk," he said. "And if you behave, we'll stay out even longer. Okay?"

Much to his relief, Stith agreed without protest. When Nodyr was finished watching the jet skier, the three made their way around the edge of it until they came to a walking trail that led through another section of forest. It was a natural path that continued for over two miles, and ended at yet another lake that was at the bottom of a cliff. This wall rose about thirty feet above the water. This was a popular, not to mention quiet spot for those that wanted to walk the length of the trail.

Fortunately, the canopy of trees provided some relief from the sun. The dense foliage formed an arc above their heads that blocked a healthy portion of the rays, and thus it was cooler. It was not by much, but it was enough to make the heat tolerable. An additional bonus was that the recent rain left the leaves and branches soaked. This moisture that had not yet evaporated dripped upon the three, much to their delight.

At one point Nodyr reached up to grab one of the branches, and then shook it roughly. A cascade of water proceeded to soak Sarah. She ended up completely drenched as though she had hopped in the shower for a second; technically this was true. Had the shower not been so refreshing, she would have been very angry about the prank. Instead all she did was wipe away a few leaves that were clinging to her skin while listening to Stith and Nodyr giggle. He got off easy with a playful shove in the back. A few minutes later however, she returned the favor, soaking both of them when she disturbed the limbs by tossing a stick overhead (she was unable to actually reach them on her own).

They walked on for a while longer, not speaking much, and mostly enjoying nature. Every so often a cool breeze would pick up through the trail, rustling the leaves, branches, and the two mantrins' ears which blew around like wind socks; the breeze was especially soothing considering the moisture on their bodies. A bed of leaves along the ground crackled under their feet. Bird like creatures called to each other from the branches with their own imitative songs, and at one point, Nodyr nearly had a collision with one as it flew low across the trail.

A few minutes later, there was a sudden rustle in a bush nearby. Nodyr, who was still leading, suddenly stopped, his left foot momentarily hovering in mid air before bringing it to rest. He looked back at them with a cautious glance, as if to say "don't go any further."

"What is it?" Stith asked, trying to hurry ahead to the bush until she was stopped by Nodyr's outstretched leg.

"Wait," he said very sternly, a sudden change of demeanor that surprised both Stith and Sarah. "It might be something dangerous. Get back." He reached behind himself and gently pushed Stith backward a few paces. "Wait," he said again when he felt her resist.

The young mantrin protested. "But I want to see it!" she said to the back of his swishing tail.

"No!" he scolded, raising his voice in a rare moment. "Stay behind me."

With concern, Sarah stepped forward until she was at his side. She took Stith's hand firmly in hers, and then looked up at him with confusion and a slight bit of anger on her face. There was no reason to yell at their daughter like he had just done. "What was that for?" she stammered.

"Sshh!" he replied as he quickly whipped his head around atop his thick neck. His teeth were pressed together as he spoke. "Be quiet. You don't know what that was."

Bringing her voice to an irritated whisper, Sarah stood on her toes so that she could be closer to his ear. Her hand still firmly held onto Stith's, who was squirming to try to get away and satisfy her curiosity. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Dear, I hate it when you get like this. There's nothing to worry about, it's just some animal. She patted him on the top knee in hopes of reassurance.

"It's just, I'm just worried about things, okay?" he said, choking out his first few words.

"What?" she asked, still in a whisper. "If it's Wyr'Mo'Gwi still, there's no way it could be anyone with the size of that bush. Why would they be out here anyway?" Upon saying the name, she saw his body stiffen before giving into a shiver that ran from his ear tips all the way to his tail tip.

"Shh," he said angrily. "You don't want them to hear us. You remember what just happened in town." Nodyr watched the shrub intently. Three painful minutes had passed before there was another rustle. This movement caused him to step backward, pushing his family with him. His arms were outstretched and turned toward them to form a barrier, although it would have done little good in the event of an attack. His ears were standing erect, not only scanning in front, but all around from fear of being surrounded; they swiveled back and forth to catch any sounds.

His focus maintained on the bush as his eyes narrowed to a paper-thin aperture. "Go away!" he shouted. "Leave us alone!"

"Nodyr, calm down," Sarah said pleadingly. "Please. You're scaring Stith. Me too."

"But," he began, but then trailed off upon hearing another shift in the plant. His ears quickly swiveled toward the source of the sound. The movement was so rapid that it was nearly painful. He brought a hand up to one of his ear bases and grunted as he rubbed at it.

After yet another rustle, an empty nutshell rolled out of the bush. Following this was a small animal that teetered from within. It emitted an irritated squawk, and had it not been for the animal's comical appearance, the utterance would have been taken seriously. Its body was tiny, yellowish, and shaped like a pear. Its legs were about the size as the rest of its body and were about the animal's only notable asset; they could be used to leap great distances if needed. There were no forelimbs, which helped add to the comical appearance. Along with this, the tiny nose at the tip of the animal's flat muzzle never seemed to stop twitching.

"You got all worked up over a _yoble_?" Sarah asked.

Nodyr lowered his brow and gnawed on his lip. "Sorry," he said in embarrassment as the _yoble_ squawked at them again. "I'm just trying to keep you all safe."

"Yes I know," she said, "but you sometimes overreact. Like just now." Sarah then leaned down to console Stith, who appeared to be one half of a bad feeling away from tears. "Stith, he didn't mean to yell. He isn't mad at you."

"Sorry Junebug," he said, not looking back at her, and simply lowering his head in shame. His hands were firmly shoved into the pockets on the front of his shorts.

"Okay," Stith said weakly, and then added, "Can I pet the _yoble_?" as though allowing this would be a way of making up to her.

Still holding her hand, Sarah looked down her round nose at Stith. She did not actually believe what she was about to say was possible. "Sure, if you can catch it," she said with a smirk.

The _yoble_ must have understood what had been said, because just then it let out another squawk and bounded off down the trail. And Stith must have taken her seriously, because upon seeing this, she finally squirmed out of Sarah's grasp and took off after the frightened animal. Like all mantrins, the running was a kind of bounding side-to-side motion, much like a speed skater. The legs could generate a lot of power and had a great deal of reach that could give the mantrin a lot of speed in quick bursts; trying to run with such large legs took a lot of energy, and so the body could only run for a short while. The rare exception was Stith, who was still experiencing a sugar rush, and could thus run forever, or at least until she was threatened with a time out.

Stith had already disappeared down the hill in front of them before it had sunk in to her parents they she had actually just done what she had. "Stith get back here now!" Sarah screamed. Within the same breath, both she and Nodyr dashed along the trail after her. The large mantrin quickly outran her.

When they finally found Stith, which did not take long, she was curled up at the bottom of the hill from which she had originally disappeared from their sight. Even from the top they could hear her crying very loudly; she was using her shirt to catch the tears, which had become quite moist near the collar. One of her legs was twisted into a very uncomfortable, not to mention unnatural looking position as it lay backward and under her body. The young mantrin did not even notice them until they were right above her. She looked up slowly to see Nodyr staring down at her over his muzzle.

"I fell," Stith whimpered, continuing her sobs. "Oww."

"And your little friend got away too I see," Nodyr said as he lowered himself to help her stand. The _yoble_ was nowhere in sight. Upon closer inspection he saw the real reason that she was crying. Between the knees on her right leg, there was a very long stripe of blood where the leg had been skinned from the fall. Along with this, there were several bruised on his legs, shoulder, and on her cheek. This was all on top of the painful contortion of her left leg.

"Is your leg broken?" Sarah suddenly interjected in fear. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Stith whimpered after trying to fight back her tears for a minute. "It hurts a lot."

Very gently, Nodyr scooped a hand under her back, and helped to ease her to a sitting position. He heard Sarah wince from behind, sucking in a thin, high pitched breath through her teeth as her eyes focused further on Stith's leg. He then very carefully lifted her from underneath her arms until her leg was freed from under her body. Both hung limply below her, and fortunately the movement did not seem to cause her any pain.

"I think she's alright," Nodyr said to Sarah. "Remember how flexible our legs can be."

"I hope so," Sarah said. "You know you can't assume things."

As he held Stith, Nodyr nuzzled against her soft ears, eliciting a tranquil coo that temporarily took her mind off of the pain. "Are you ready to stand now?" he asked her.

"I'm okay," Stith choked as she shook her head in agreement. However, this did not stop the tears that were still racing down her cheeks. "Ow," she suddenly said again, and held a hand over the bruise near her eye.

"Are you sure?" Nodyr and Sarah said in unison. Afterward they looked at each other curiously and nearly laughed, but were dissuaded by the troubled situation.

"Mmhm." Stith nodded. She wriggled about a bit to show she was ready to be released. She was set down promptly without any severe complications. However, she did wince momentarily upon applying pressure to her leg. Fortunately, the pain did not last, and she was able to walk as normally as one would expect after tumbling down a hill covered in stones and branches.

Once it was clear that she would be just fine, Sarah knelt down to inspect her cuts. The large skinned area down the front of her leg was not hindering movement, but it certainly was unpleasant, and could lead to an even more unpleasant infection if it was left untreated. Sarah shook her head sadly. "We need to go back to the tent," she said, knowing full well that there would be protest.

She was right. "Why?" Stith said, threatening to start up the tear factory again.

"Because," Sarah said," we need to bandage that leg of yours before it gets worse.

Nodyr was in agreement. "Yes, let's go Stith, and then we can go swimming. Okay?"

This seemed to make everything much better. There was no further objection from Stith, much to her parents' relief. On the way back, she ran around to prove her good health. Stith dashed back and forth, running around them in figure eights, even trying to scamper up a tree at one point. A fully-grown Sogowan could have reached the high branches. Her legs were not long enough however. It would have to wait until she was older.

Soon they had returned to the tent with Stith held firmly in her adoptive father's arms. About halfway back to the tent, he had decided to carry her, due to the trauma that she had just been through, even though she had just proven that she was all right via her antics. To a mantrin of Nodyr's size, her weight was no burden, at least not for the first few minutes anyhow. By the time that they had returned, his lower back was aching plenty, and his arms were beginning to feel like pasta, however he did not complain. Although as he set her down, he did say, complete with a grin: "I'm not going to be able to carry you next year if you don't stop growing. "

Stith made no promises.

Nodyr watched as the two disappeared into the tent. What came next was an uncomfortable period where he heard Stith complaining about something stinging, and then yelping as it was applied. After a return of the tears, the complaints finally settled into quiet, save a few weak sniffles here and there from within the tent. He waited, his ears cocked to attention while he listened.

Silence.

This soon became too unsettling. Nodyr peered his head into the tent to see if anything was wrong. What he found was Sarah sitting up with Stith in her lap, eyes closed, and curled into a ball. "Shh. I think she wore herself out," Sarah said, with an extended finger to her lips. She smiled with relief.

"Oh," Nodyr said in surprise. He brought his voice to a whisper. "I think I'm going to walk around for a few minutes, okay?

"Alright, hurry back," Sarah said, and then did her best to keep Stith asleep.

Nodyr returned to the heat of the day. The campground was becoming a little livelier, with more campers arriving, and others stepping out of their tents for once. Off in the distance he saw two human families. They both appeared to be small; one had one young child, and the other had none. Or maybe they did, he thought. Those two appeared to be older; perhaps they were grandparents.

He walked around for a while, not straying too far from the tent. He was still rather nervous about the news of the recent attack in the city, even though there was no evidence about who had actually done it. He knew who most likely had down it however, even though, as Sarah continued to remind him, there was no way to prove that Wyr'Mo'Gwi even existed any longer. He also knew what they could do, or at least he thought he did. When he was only a small child, long before his parents had disowned him for his relationship with a human, they had told him many things about the organization.

Much like his parents, he knew how much they hated humans. He knew how they had killed many when the group had started; Nodyr had not even been alive when it began. He knew how their criminal activity had forced them to vanish long ago. It was believed that they were all gone for good, but to where was the question. The members were known, but they were never seen. What _was_ known however was that many activities, very similar to the ones that Wyr'Mo'Gwi had enacted, still happened every so often. Yet, there was never any capture or evidence of the criminals.

Nodyr tried his best to shake this out of his mind as he walked around the area.

After a while he saw a mantrin approaching him; he was a Goureg. Nodyr did not know this, but he was the same male that Sarah had seen earlier before the walk. This time he was more freely dressed, wearing a loose white shirt, and a short skirt-like bottom. The latter garment was very common among mantrins in the city, simply because it was much easier to get on and off than a pair shorts, or pants even, which were even worse. Mantrin legs were simply not designed to allow human clothing below the waist, and their typical pair of pants was an awful mess of buttons and/or snaps so that the garment could unfold like a diaper. Otherwise, they would be impossible to apply.

His mate was not along this time.

"_Uhreaht_," the Goureg said, greeting him in Preidogian. He continued speaking in this local mantrin language, and did not wait for Nodyr to respond as he adopted an aggressive tone. "My mate and I witnessed you fraternizing with that human woman. You should be very ashamed of yourself." He stared toe to toe with Nodyr, looking down at him as his tail beat from side to side. Even for a Goureg, this mantrin was huge; from the distance Sarah had seen him, he did not appear to be so tall. His green-blue eyes nearly appeared to glow in the sunlight.

Not wishing to be so close, Nodyr stood back. He looked to the side so that their muzzles did not have to be so close together. The feeling was very uncomfortable to him. "What does it matter?" he said. His lip uncontrollably curled up to show his teeth. "I'm not ashamed."

"Because it's disgusting and unnatural," he spat. "And we don't appreciate our wonderful day being ruined because you don't have the sense to stay apart from that alien. The humans are starting to think we're a bunch of immoral perverts. Do you want that?" He shifted his weight forward, as though he were about to pounce, and then added as his eyes narrowed: "And don't snarl at me. I don't take threats from your kind."

Ready to leave for good, Nodyr took yet another step back and turned so that his side was facing the other mantrin. "My kind?" he muttered to himself with confusion lingering in his voice. He chewed on his lip as he pondered this, saying the phrase again more emphatically. His face scrunched up into several contortions as he tried to keep himself from doing something stupid. What he really wanted to do was run, and in fact his legs continued to twitch as though they would take off without him, but at the same time, he wanted to say something to defend himself.

The fight and flight responses should never mix. "I'm not natural? And those things you're wearing _are_ natural!" he finally shouted, catching the Goureg by surprise as he received a violent kick between the knees on his left leg. Nodyr watched in horror as the other clenched his teeth and eyes tightly while he clutched at his wounded leg. He quickly looked around to see if anyone had seen what he had done. Everyone appeared to be gone now. The place was deserted. Still, he worried, that the agonized yell from his antagonist would have been enough to summon those even far away in the city.

About two minutes later, he had made it back to his tent, panting heavily, and leaning over to catch his breath. His hands rested on his top knees for support. _What did you do_? he thought. Nodyr had never attacked anyone before, even for saying worse things. _Now he's probably going to come back for you. Nice going. Oh no. _Suddenly, Nodyr felt a deep chill from within, as though death were resting on his shoulders. _I bet he's from Wyr'Mo'Gwi_. _That's why he hates Sarah so much. And now I've upset him_. _He's going to come after us now, or even get his friends after us_. He felt a very sickening sensation in his gut.

Nodyr suddenly stood rigidly, scanning the area for any signs of the mantrin that he had upset. He was nowhere to be found. In fact, no one was around at all. He wondered where they had gone. _There were just a lot out here_, he thought. _Maybe you were just seeing things. _He looked around some more after shaking his head a few times to try to clear his mind. He still saw no one. He began to wonder if they had all seen what he had done and gone to get help, or even fled in fear. He continued to ponder the situation, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt his hearts racing. Sweat was breaking out on his temple and palms.

Taking a deep breath, he finally ducked his way into the tent. Sarah was sitting up, appearing half asleep, with Stith in her lap. The young mantrin, surprisingly enough, was still asleep as well. She was curled up with her head rested on Sarah's far thigh.

"What's wrong?" she said in a whisper so as not to wake Stith. "You look like you just saw someone get killed."

"Well we might. I think we need to go." He did not bother keeping his voice down, and remained in a low crouch. One foot pointed toward the tent's entrance.

"Why?" she said in surprise. "Earlier you were telling me we weren't going anywhere."

"Look," he said hastily. "I ran into someone from Wyr'Mo'Gwi and I hurt him because he was insulting you and he's really angry and he's going to come kill you."

Stith, who had begun to stir moments earlier, suddenly burst into tears again. She clung tightly to Sarah, the little claws pricking her adoptive mother's skin. "They're not going to hurt _ahmo_ are they?" she asked, terrified

"Nodyr! And no I'm going to be okay," she quickly said to Stith, patting her on the shoulder, and dabbing up the tears. "Don't frighten her! I don't know who you saw, but you don't know where they're from. I really doubt they're from that place. It's just another camper. I saw someone earlier too that was giving us sour looks. Relax, it's not like it's the first time we've had problems."

His mouth hung agape as he appeared very offended that she would not take him seriously. "Look, he was really angry. And you can't ignore things. Remember what happened to Alison's mate!"

"Yes," Sarah said flatly, and then winced. She said no more on the matter as it was not for a young girl's ears. "But we still don't know who did it. Stop being so paranoid."

Nodyr growled in frustration, and then lowered onto his rump. Part of his tail still rested outside of the tent. "I'm sorry for trying to keep you safe then."

Sighing, Sarah shook her head sadly. She cupped a hand on the side of his jaw and gave it a little pat. "I know you are, but I think you're just overreacting to this. Calm down." She leaned forward, bringing her lips next to her ear, and then whispered. "It is still Stith's birthday. Please don't ruin it. Calm down for her, if nothing else."

"I…" Nodyr trailed off, gnawing on his lip. He made a few frustrated faces for a moment while he tried to think of what to say. "Okay," he finally said, quite reluctantly. Forcing a smile, he looked at Stith. "Would you like to go swimming now?" Even if he did not wish to go himself, he would have been very receptive to the notion at that moment. Getting away from their tent and being around others seemed much safer.

"Mmhmm!" Stith nodded happily.


	5. Sunset

**Chapter 5**

_Sunset_

Later that afternoon, the weather was not much better. The only thing that made it somewhat tolerable was a comforting breeze that had begun to pick up across the area. It would not last long. It never did unless of course one was near the ocean, which was not too far from where the city was located. To the residents it was nothing special however. Living so close tended to diminish the luxury of the ocean. The furthest community was only about sixty miles. Most lived within ten.

Meanwhile, Stith, Sarah, and Nodyr had long since finished their lunch, and were dozing inside the tent, doing their best to keep cool. Sarah was lying on top of Nodyr, and Stith was lying on top of her. Only the largest of the three was snoring, and he had been out for at least an hour.

Stith was the first to wake. Actually, she had never been fully asleep outside of a few minutes after she had received her bandages. Mostly she had laid there, eyes half closed, and thinking about nothing more than getting in the lake. Her excitement made the wait seem extra long. As she continued to wait, Stith rolled off of her mother, landing to the ground with a soft thump. "Ow," he said in a tiny voice as she landed on one of her bruises. Sitting, Stith crossed her legs. Her tail twitched behind her, and she wondered how they could still be sleeping when something as important as going swimming still awaited them.

She waited, and then waited some more. Several irritated grunts later, it finally began to come to her attention that they were not about to get up any time soon. If they were not going to do anything, she decided that she would herself. Carelessly, Stith crawled her way out of the tent and looked around. She held a hand over her brow and scanned the horizon. In the distance she could see several others out and about, resting, walking, and playing games with each other. She saw a few children, all humans, playing tag. Nearly everyone else was a grown up however. They all looked so tall.

Nearby was a lone mantrin, walking casually toward the forest. He wore no more than a ragged pair of shorts that were tattered along the edges and patched up near his rump. She could tell by the horizontal black stripes down his back and tail that he was an Orkeht. _Why does he want to go in there?_ Stith wondered as he drew closer to the forest's edge. _Monsters and bad men are in there_. _He must be crazy. _Crazy or not, he did not look so tall.

In fact, he looked no bigger than a child, at least from Stith's viewpoint anyhow. She held up her thumb and squinted over it, her tongue sticking out comically. _No_, she thought_, he's tiny_. The Orkeht was no bigger than her thumb and claw put together. No one else was going to talk to her right now, so Stith decided that she would say hi.

She trotted away from the tent until she was near him. "Hi!" Stith said gleefully.

"Oh, uh hi," he said in a voice that was surprisingly low for someone of his diminutive stature. The Orkeht turned to face her, and tripped over his words like a series of speed bumps as he fidgeted, wearing an expression of one caught doing something naughty. He barely had to lean down to be eye to eye with her.

What proceeded was a barrage of questions. "What's your name? Mine's Stith. Where are you going? What are your pants ripped up? Where's your tent? Wanna see mine? It's over there. I'm bored, wanna talk? Why are you so small?" Stith asked. She rocked back and forth on her feet as she spat out her interrogation.

The stranger nearly had to clamp a hand over her muzzle to get her to be quiet. Just before he spoke, another breeze picked up, catching his large ears in the process and comically blowing them around like frail wind socks. "Easy now," he said, relaxing a bit and laughing quietly. "You only get to ask one question at a time, and to answer your first, my name is Myolu. It's nice to meet you Stith." As he spoke he quickly held out his hand to shake hers. "But I'm in a hurry to meet a friend of mine, so I fear we can't talk much. Have you seen him? He looks kind of like me, but has on some green shorts."

"No," Stith said. "You say my name funny." This was about the only thing of importance to her. He did have a noticeable accent that differed from anything she was used to. She was not sure what the difference was, but it was there. "And you smell funny too."

"Do I?" he asked to both of her tactless remarks. "I think I smell normal while you smell like chemicals. What'd you bathe with?"

"Soap," she said in a tone showing how obvious she thought the answer was. "_Ahmo_ makes me use it."

Myolu suddenly looked over his shoulder off into the distance before returning his attention to Stith. "Well tell _ahmo_ that she shouldn't make you use it all the time. It masks your scent."

"So?"

"Well when you get older, the boys won't like you as much. Eh, you are a girl right?" he asked suddenly, not wishing to have judged her falsely. Or at the least to have assumed something about her that if it was true, would not really be clear until she had begun maturing later in life.

"Yeah huh. _Ahmo_'s mean to me."

"Is she really?"

"Yeah, she hits me a lot," she said, referring to the spankings she would get here and there. It was never anything outside of a little pop on the rump, but to her it was one of the worst things ever.

"Why?" he asked. "Do you misbehave?"

She lied, as all children do when asked if they are troublesome. "No! Because she's mean," Stith said. "Oh guess what? She's a human too. Neat huh?"

"Is that so?" he asked with a sudden concerned air. "I don't really know if it's good for the t—"

"--Mmhmm!" she interrupted. "Oh and she makes me brush my teeth too!" Stith made an over exaggerated choking sound to show how much she disliked this.

"Oh how dreadful," he said, humoring her, and deciding not to say anything more about the human raising her. He was not too fond of the idea, but did not wish to upset her. He considered, and hoped, that maybe it would work out better than he thought. "Who needs healthy teeth?"

"Who's your friend?" Stith said, changing the subject, as she had no answer to his question.

"Uh," he said, looking around nervously before he continued. "Just someone I work with, but I'm much better than he is. I get to boss him around. Oh he wouldn't like your _ahmo_ very much either, so if you see him, don't tell him about her."

"He sounds mean!" she said with disdain.

"Eh guess he can be. That reminds me though. You should tell your _ahmo_ this if she doesn't know. I saw in the news that Wyr'Mo'Gwi might have attacked a place in the city. If they're around, she might not be safe. But Stith, don't worry. I'm sure they're just a myth."

"A what?"

"Oh just a story that isn't true," he said, leaning his muzzle back and sniffing in the air. "Now I think I smell my friend coming. I have to go Stith. Be a good girl and go back to your tent."

"Okay bye!" she chimed.

Stith trotted off, back to in the direction of her tent. Fear suddenly began to creep up on her as she looked around, unsure of where the tent was. They all looked so much alike, and now there were others in her camping area. She wondered which tent was hers, and began to wish that she had paid more attention to its color. She thought it was a dark red, but could not remember clearly. Making her way into the middle of a long group of tents, she looked around and pondered what might be the right one.

A minute later she found the right tent, not by choice, but because Sarah stepped out of it and caught her. "Where are you going?" she scolded as she grabbed Stith by the wrist.

"Nowhere," she said innocently as she decided that it was best not to mention where she had gone if that was not suspected.

"Well get back inside before your father worries to death. You're lucky he's asleep right now. You know better than to wonder off without us."

"Sorry," Stith said, and then said nothing more. Inwardly she sighed a long sigh of relief from not being questioned further. It was not until they were back in the tent that she recalled what Myolu had told her. She felt like she should say something as it was important. But, if she did, she knew that Nodyr would panic, and then they would probably never get to go swimming. They might even have to go home.

At the least, Nodyr was half asleep. His eyes opened just barely upon hearing them enter the tent and sit in front of his lying form. "Whayadoing?" he slurred, smacking his lips loudly and yawning with his mouth wide enough to give them a healthy view down his throat. His tail tip lazily rocked from side to side, and he scratched at his legs and hips as he continued to smack his lips.

"Well," Sarah began as she reached into their cooler and brought out an icy pitcher of water. After a long refreshing drink she continued. "I think someone here—" she gestered to Stith. "—really wants to go swimming."

"You promised!" Stith said. She leaned with her palms flat against his tummy.

Nodyr grunted from her weight, and then eased up onto his elbows, finally growing more awake. "I know I know," he said, smacking his lips some more. Finally he sat up onto his rump. He leaned forward, stretching his back as he reached down to his lower knees. "But maybe we should wait a bit more."

"No let's go now! You keep saying wait," Stith wined, beating her fist on his leg. "I want to go now."

Instead of berating her for the behavior, Sarah only smiled. "She's right you know," she said to Nodyr. "Let's go now, alright? It'll be evening soon."

"Eh," he muttered. He looked around, in every direction but in their eyes; often his own walked along the floor. For the following awkward minute, all he managed to say were a few uncomfortable meaningless syllables, with uh being a favorite. His toes twitched, curling up in a tight flex. He tapped his claws against the ground, nearly ripping a hole in their cheap tent. "Well," he said slowly after finally noticing Sarah looking at him with impatience and with a bit of irritation with his hesitation.

What finally got him to move was the feeling of ten little fingers tugging hard on the waist of his shorts. "Ah!" he yelped, scooting back against the tent wall. "Stith, don't do that. I might lose something," he said nervously.

"I know!" Stith giggled.

"Careful," Sarah told her. "You know how embarrassed _erseh_ is of himself. We wouldn't want him to lose something, would we?" As she said this, she chuckled and then gave a quick tug at his shorts herself. She could not help but chuckle as he yelped and jumped backward as much as he could. Unfortunately for Nodyr, there was nowhere to go.

"Hmm," she said slyly, and then turned to face Stith. "What do you say he loses something after all if he doesn't let us go swimming?"

She had to think about this for a moment, but finally understood what Sarah had meant. "Okay!" she said, and scooted next to him, placing a hand on his shorts again. Sarah did the same.

"Hey this isn't fair," Nodyr complained. He swatted their hands away defensively and pouted. Eventually he gave up and reached into their clothing bag, pulling out Stith's swimsuit, and tossing it to her. Stith caught it and scooted back to change.

"Sarah," he said sadly as he leaned close to her ear and brought his voice to a whisper. "I'm just worried about things," he said. "I can't stop thinking about that mantrin I saw earlier. I can't believe I kicked him. "

"It's going to be fine," she said in reply, not bothering to keep her voice down. She tenderly petted his leg as she spoke. "It's obvious that he is a fool. You said he doesn't think that we should be together, so what does he know about anything? He's probably too afraid to even bother you again, after what you just did. You showed him how tough you are. Right?" she said encouragingly, hoping to pump up his confidence.

Before he could reply, Sarah looked over at Stith who was struggling with her swimsuit. "_Erseh's_ really strong isn't he?" she asked.

"Mmhm!" Stith said, rapidly nodding her head. "He can beat up anybody!" She flexed and made a few jabbing motions into the air to emphasize this.

Despite his present anxiety, Nodyr could not help but laugh at her antics. "Yeah I'm really strong," he said weakly. He cracked a smile and watched her fumble with the swimsuit, nearly turning herself into a pretzel in the process.

"You _are_ strong," Sarah said warmly and snuggled up into his chest. She was about to say something that would have most likely led to Stith gagging, but the young mantrin in question was holding her attention too well. Stith resembled a kitten fighting too hard with a ball of string, and then getting tangled up in it.

"Need some help?" she asked.

"Nooo," Stith said and continued to struggle. The small tent space was not helping at all. Eventually one of the shoulder straps ended up fastened around her neck, the other was twisted around about six times and on the wrong side, and the entire garment was turned inside out, not to mention being on backwards.

By the time she finally gave up, she was laying on the floor, panting heavily. "Yes," she finally said in defeat. Her ears hung low in shame.

"It's okay Stith." Sarah said and then pointed at Nodyr. "I even have to help him." He promptly stuck his tongue out at her. "And he has to help me occasionally," she added.

"Everyone needs help sometimes. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Help," was all Stith said in response.

"How did you do this?" Sarah asked as she began to unfasten the tangled suit. "It's not that difficult. Only two things to button."

"I can't reach the back," she said in an apologetic tone, as though she were in trouble for something.

Sarah mimed the motion of reaching for the back strap and suddenly became aware of the awkwardness of doing so. "Oh, that _is_ hard," she said. "Sorry Stith, I didn't mean to make you feel stupid, but you know we've always helped with it in the past and I never even thought about whether or not it would be difficult."

"Well it is!" Stith said angrily.

"It is," Nodyr said to back her up. "You've seen what a pain it can be for us to get into everything but shirts."

"I have," she said, and then glanced at the pile of Stith's clothes in the corner of the tent. "Much easier than getting out of them it seems."

It was not long before Sarah had straightened out the swimsuit and properly applied it to Stith. It looked like a typical woman's attire, with the main difference being that the shoulder straps connected over the shoulders instead of being one piece. The other difference was an opening in the back for the tail surrounded by a ring of elastic to help hold the tail snuggly. There were also a few snaps on the sides so that the suit would open down the torso. The way it came apart allowed for it to be put on much more easily; all the mantrin had to do was sit on it like a diaper and connect the front and back. Otherwise, the long legs made it near impossible unless he or she was as flexible as an acrobat. The only drawback to the design was that it usually required an assistant. Of course there was the standard two-piece, but that was not what Stith had.

Nodyr's suit was similar, however it stopped around his belly, snapping at the sides of the hips. Many males also wore the Speedo variety of swimsuit; however Nodyr did not, and had made no plans to do so. What he had embarrassed him enough with the way the suit was not afraid to show off his thighs, and how it tended to hug his groin a little too much for comfort. He chose a dark blue color just for this reason (Stith wore purple and red.) What made him feel a little better about the swimsuit was the knowledge that all of the others had to wear the same thing.

He envied the human males that could wear shorts for swimming. He always imagined that their straight, short legs could that only had one knee would make life so much more convenient at times. His were always getting in the way. He wondered why things could not have been made more convenient for his species. If the humans were going to practically take over the area, they could at least make things more accommodating.

When he stepped out of the tent, Sarah and Stith were all dressed and waiting for him. Sarah was coated in sunscreen with a coconut scent, a scent that Nodyr had never smelled naturally as there were no coconuts on the planet. In fact, there was a great abundance of scented items featuring products that were native to Earth that had never actually been brought over to Solbrecht. Jasmine and lavender were two such scents.

"Wow!" Sarah said as her eyes scanned the length of his body. "You look great in that." She made a fanning gesture by her face and smiled.

"Sarah please," he said bashfully, feeling his cheeks and ears growing hot.

"I can't help but tell the truth. Stop being so modest and take a compliment you big baby," she said, poking his thigh. "We're going to have to get that out of you somehow," she added, "even if it does make you really cute."

He smiled weakly. "Eh thanks, I think," he said as he tapped his fingertips together and looked just to her side to avoid eye contact.

Sarah countered this by firmly placing her hand under his muzzle and directing it so that they were eye to eye. "Look at me," she said. "You don't need to be embarrassed when I say things like that. I wouldn't lie to you. You're very attractive to me." After giving him a light kiss on the front of his leathery beak, she released his muzzle. "And I'd hope you felt the same."

"Oh well of course," he said a tad defensively. "I-I just don't like talking about it in front of Stith."

"Are we going swimming or not?" the young mantrin finally said, digging her foot into the ground. Her face was covered in an angry pout.

"Yes right now!" Nodyr said. "Would you like to ride?" he asked, and then lowered his body so that she could climb on his back. The answer to his question came in the form of two tiny arms wrapping themselves around his belly, and two legs swinging themselves over his own.

The afternoon was well past its adolescence, and soon the blistering sun would disappear behind the horizon. Already, one of the planet's two moons could be seen rising in the east, its expansive cratered surface resembling a speckled egg in the evening sky. Soon its cousin would be seen traveling behind, a little late as always, with the exception of the rare periods when its orbit would overlap the other. But for now, the sun was still out, and likewise it was still hot. Not as hot as earlier that day, but still unpleasant for a non-Solbrecht native like Sarah.

A human passed them on the way to the lake. He was alone and dripping wet in a red swimsuit. He smiled and waved at them as he passed and said nothing more than "hi." A few seconds after, Nodyr turned his head back toward the human and said hi as well. He had been taken back by the lack of repulsion from him. It took Nodyr a moment to realize that all he had done was greet them. He had nearly expected to be told how awful he was for the second time that day.

"Well he was nice," Sarah said. "I was worried he would say something rude."

"So was I," Nodyr said. "Maybe he just kept his mouth shut because we have a young child here."

"I wouldn't be so suspicious about it," she said. "There's no reason he can't just be nice. It isn't _that_ uncommon you know."

It was not long before they arrived at the lake. A small number of swimmers were there, less than what they had seen upon passing earlier that day. Most were near the coastline; however some were still far off in the lake in various watercrafts.

"I'm going to swim out into the lake," Sarah said. "Take care of Stith, alright?"

"That's never something you have to ask me to do," he responded with a chuckle as his chest swelled with pride. "No one takes better care of her than I do."

"Other than feeding her cake for lunch, of course," Sarah teased.

Both Nodyr and Stith stuck their tongues out at her. "Well," Nodyr eventually said, "I think making her happy is part of taking care of her. Besides, cake never hurt me any." He gave his belly a hearty pat as he said this.

"Hmm." Sarah tapped a finger against her thin lips, trying to think of a witty reply, but nothing terribly inspiring came to mind. "I did say I was going to go swimming, so I am now," she said, and then turned to walk into that lake after giving him a quick peck on his muzzle. Not turning back toward him, she waded a few feet into the water to test it out, and then slid further out into the lake.

The two mantrins watched as she swam out several yards before finally sinking under the water. She resurfaced even further out, shook her head to get the dripping hair out of her eyes, and finally dove under again. She resurfaced and repeated this a few more times, appearing in a slightly different location among the other swimmers each time. A few minutes later, she swam a little closer to the bank and called out to them. "Are you going to stand there or come swimming?" she asked. "You two were the ones that wanted to do this."

"Oh yes," Nodyr said suddenly. He leaned forward a little so that his hands were near the ground. "Your beauty just had me enraptured," he said wryly.

"I'm sure it did," Sarah said with a pinch of sarcasm. "Now come on in! It's warm and feels great in here."

"Yeah _erseh_, I wanna go swimming," Stith finally said. She began to drum on his back to get him moving.

"Okay, okay," he said, looking back at her. "Don't beat me to death please."

Stith laughed and held on tight as he made his way into the lake. Mantrins were not really built for swimming. The legs were hardly streamlined and tended to do nothing but drag through the water. However, since their weight was not much of a factor under water, many mantrins, especially those of the Goureg race, could stretch their legs out for a short time and walk along the bottom at depths much greater than what humans could do. The other alternative was simply to bob around in the water like a giant cork, but then the only real swimming they could do involved kicking out with the legs in the manner of a frog. This method was more trouble than it was worth. Generally however, most mantrins tended to stay out of the water apart from bathing.

Nodyr walked out into the water until it came up to just past his first knee. Any further and Stith would not be able to stand comfortably, and force her to rise up on her legs which she could only do for a few seconds. The water was indeed warm; it did not chill him at all as it would do later in the year. He took a few side to side steps; letting his feet playfully splash around in the water. His legs resembled those of a large water bird the way they bent at the ankle, and with the large, three-toed feet.

Still on his back, Stith spoke up enthusiastically. "Throw me!" she said, remembering the girl she had seen earlier being tossed by her father.

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking back at her through the corner of his eye.

"In the air," she said very matter-of-factly, as though the answer could not be any more obvious. She tugged on his ears a bit to get him moving. "Into the water."

"Oh yeah," he said. "You'll have to get off of me first."

"Okay!" Stith said, in the same breath dropping off of him into the water with a loud splash. She nearly slid down the back of his tail like a fleshy slide; had it been able to support her weight, she would have. Stith looked up at his back grinning, her tail rocking back and forth under the water. Just as Nodyr was turning to face her, she scrambled under his legs, sitting beneath his wide stance. As she looked up again, she met his eyes as he leaned over and looked between his feet at her.

"I think I lost you," he chuckled, and then reached forward to pick her up into his arms.

Squealing Stith scooted backward a few paces, getting bumped in the head by his tail and managing to get just out of his reach. She gave his tail a quick tug, causing him to yelp and topple over in his attempt to get away from her grasp. He fell into the water with an enormous splash that not only soaked Stith, but a few others nearby.

After shaking off and apologizing to those around them, Nodyr looked at Stith. "Careful," he said uneasily. "You might hurt me."

"Nooo," Stith said, not really believing it. To her, her father was invincible. Backing up this belief was the fact that she had never seriously hurt him. There was the time she bruised his shin from a little roughhousing, but she did not remember that occasion. Stith stepped over to his side in the shallows, and then leaned against him. "Get up," she said.

Nodyr leaned his had back and grunted. His ears relaxed, dipping into the water so that the tips became wet. He let his hands tap dance on the surface momentarily, and then pushed off with them so that he was seated. The water came up just over his rump; it covered all but the base of his tail. "You might have to help me out then," he said, not really needing it. He only wanted to make her feel sorry for knocking him over. He also had a little scheme in mind.

"How?" Stith asked.

He held out his arm to her. "Take my hand and pull," he said.

Stith did as she was instructed, gripping his large hand with both of hers, and pulling back as hard as she could. Grunting and straining, her wide feet dug into the muddy water beneath. It only took her a few moments to realize that she was not going to be able to lift his weight and give up the task. "I can't do it," she complained, letting her arms flop down to her sides.

Nodyr looked up, sighing in defeat. "I guess I'll be here forever then," he said. "Unless you want to try again. Try once more. Really hard. Okay?" Of course he knew that she would never be able to lift him.

"But I can't!" she whined.

His ears drooped in faux disappointment. "Aw Stith, I thought you were a strong girl. I don't want to sit here the rest of my life. Please try again."

Shrugging, Stith took his outstretched hand again. After all, she could not let him stay there forever. She pulled and tugged and snarled at having to use so much energy. She leaned her head to the side and closed her eyes tightly, pulling as hard as she could. Suddenly, she felt a hand under her rump and her feet lift off of the ground. She looked down in fear at her dangling legs hovering just over the water below. The next thing she knew, she was hurling through the air, only to splash into the lake several feet away from where she had been.

Stith bobbed to the surface, shaking the water off of her ears, and spitting out some of the water that she nearly swallowed. Once she managed to find her feet, she stood up and looked in Nodyr's direction. He was standing tall and grinning at her with his arms loosely in front.

"I thought you asked me to throw you," he chuckled as he saw her pouting and spitting out a bit more water.

"I," she began. What she had expected was something a little less surprising. Something a little less sudden would have been nice. "No," she finally said after a long pause where her mouth was held wide open in preparation to finish her sentence.

He laughed again, and then walked over to her. "I could have made a bet that you did," he teased. "Weren't you just begging me to?"

"Not that way!" Stith stammered. Her instinct said to argue and complain, but she forced herself to swallow the urge in a rare moment of self control. What prompted it was a sudden idea of how to get him back. She reminded herself to do it soon, but not until his mind was off of what had just happened, and when several people were around. That would be the best time, she decided, hiding a twisted grin.

Pushing further back into the lake, Stith drifted until the water was around her armpit. As she looked upward once more, she saw that Nodyr had walked to her place; while standing in a resting position, the water did not even reach his rump. She also looked around at the other swimmers. A lone Goureg mantrin was far out in the lake. She watched him sink under the water head over tail. It made only a petite splash. He was down for an impossibly long amount of time. Eventually she saw him resurface in nearly the same location, and with a large fish in his mouth. Even with that she could see the wide grin on his face. Her eye then caught two humans that appeared to be about her and Nodyr's age. The young boy was on his father's back, riding on him like a raft as he swam.

As she watched, the two made their way over to where she was. The man stopped between her and Nodyr and stood, letting his son climb down first. He was of average height and a little pudgy, about like Nodyr. His chest hair was thin and formed a tiny V in the center of his chest that led to a thin mat of hair on his belly. On his side was a large scar, showing the signs of surgery, probably an appendectomy. He wore a silvery swimsuit that matched his equally silvery eyes. The hair on his head was dark, full, and threatened to cover his eyes as it clung to his forehead, weighted down by water. He had a dark complexion, most likely from the sun; had it been possible to see his ankles, Stith and Nodyr would have seen that they were as white as paste.

"Hi there," he said, extending his hand to Nodyr. "I saw what you just did. That was some throw!" He laughed heartily. "Oh and my name is David. This is Zechariahs," he said as he pointed at his son, who was shyly clinging behind his father's leg. "We just call him Z though. Eh that was my wife's idea. She's weird."

"Hey!" Stith growled, sneering at him about the throwing comment.

"Relax Stith," Nodyr said, lightly holding his hand over her muzzle. A number of muffled words followed, along with some swings of her fists. "Eh thanks" he finally said, turning to the human. "I guess. And I'm Nodyr."

"Sure," he said. "Nice to meet you, Nodyr. I've never seen anyone throw their kid that far. Eh, she is yours, right?"

"Yes!" Stith answered for him with a very snotty tone as though the man were a complete imbecile for not knowing this.

"I see where she gets her feistiness from," David said. "I'll bet she'll be just as strong as you one day."

"Maybe a little," Nodyr said nervously. He did not honestly feel that he was that strong, and in fact he was not, but he agreed for his daughter's sake. He did not wish to disappoint her thoughts about him.

"Don't be modest," he said. "Hell I bet you could kill someone with your bare hands."

Nodyr's mouth hung open in shock. "What? I'd never do that. That's a terrible thing to say, especially in front of children."

"I'm just kidding," he said, giving Nodyr a nudge in his side. "No need to be so sensitive about it."

"Excuse me?" Nodyr said. "I don't think I ever said you could touch me. Stith I think we're going to go."

"Well sorry, no need to take it so personally," the man said.

"It's too late now, we're leaving. I don't want her hearing such things."

Stith watched him trudge through the water next to her, towering far above for a moment. To her, he appeared very angry as he popped her out of the water, held her in his arms, and walked away without another word. She heard him grumble something, and then felt the heat of his breath as he snorted. It was not until they were many yards away, and in a more isolated area that they came to a rest.

"That man wasn't very nice, was he?" he asked Stith who was still in his arms.

"No," she said reluctantly, not really having an opinion on the matter.

"Let's go find _ahmo_," he said, and then began to look around for her.

It did not take long, and in fact she found them instead. As Nodyr scanned the horizon, she popped up in front of him, nearly sending him back into the water from surprise. "Are you having fun?" she asked both of them.

"Hi Sarah," Nodyr chuckled. "Stith keeps trying to beat me up. She's been a bad girl today."

"No I haven't!" Stith said defensively.

Sarah quickly turned to her and spoke out of the corner of her mouth. "He's only kidding," she said, and then returned her attention to Nodyr, locking her arms behind his back at the hip, and lightly brushing the base of his tail. "I was wondering," she said as she looked up at him, "have you seen your friend yet?"

"My friend?" Nodyr said as though he had no friends to speak of, and that she was crazy for thinking that he might.

"You know," she said," the one you got in a fight with earlier? The one you were all worried about? The whole reason you were afraid to go swimming?"

"Oh," he muttered, suddenly glancing away from her and poking out his bottom lip. "No, no I haven't. Have you?" His eyes darted from side to side as he pondered the possibility that the Goureg could be out there.

"Well," Sarah said, her thin lips forming a smile. "I don't know what he looks like, but I still haven't seen anyone with a 'Kill Nodyr' sign. It seems you were worked up over nothing again." Her eyes quickly took a survey of the area around her. "No 'Nodyr must die' signs either."

"No, haven't seen any of those," he said, weakly chuckling as he tried to pretend as though it was nothing. Inside it was still bothering him however, and he honestly wondered why he had _not_ seen anything like what she had just mentioned. "I'm sure he's just waiting on me to go back to the tent. Then when I'm all alone he'll pounce."

"Oh will he?" Sarah challenged as she brushed her wet bangs out of her eyes.

"Yes," Nodyr said, lowering his voice along with his eyes. "Just, like this!" He made as though to tackle her, but just as she began to defend herself, he ducked under her outstretched arm with much agility and snatched up Stith right from the water. As she squealed, he took several long, reaching steps further into the lake, and with the momentum still with him, tossed her several yards, resulting in a hefty splash that prompted more than one swimmer to turn around in surprise.

Sarah glared at him in astonishment. "I can't believe you just did that. I thought you'd be worried about hurting her," she said.

"What?" he said, in response to her scolding look. "Water won't hurt. Besides I already did it once. She keeps asking me to throw her."

The two watched as Stith broke the surface, shook off, spat out some water, and then turned her gaze toward Nodyr, her eyes full of much venom for one so young. "Hey!" she squawked. "Why'd you do that?" She splashed a tiny wave of water in his direction, which did not even come close. With heavy steps, she sloshed through the shallows until she was once again close to him. Her ear tips were directly between his knees.

Nodyr craned his back so that he could better see her. He wore a look of complete innocence. "Well Stith, I thought you wanted me to do that. You're not hurt are you?"

"No," she said, pouting, and stomping one of her feet with a loud _plap plap._

"Good. I didn't think so," he said. "You know I'm just trying to play around. You threw me in the water too, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but, uh." Stith looked up and groaned, not really able to say anything in retaliation. She was beat and she knew it. Just then, she remembered what she had thought of moments earlier after he had surprised her the first time. Not wishing to give away her thoughts, she turned her sneer into a smile and walked up to his torso, giving him a hug. "Sorry," she said. "Are we still friends?"

"Well let me think about it," Nodyr said, looking up to his right and scratching at his chin. He continued to hum and mumble something as he pretended to be in deep thought. His eyes continued to scan the heavens, which was just what Stith wanted. Suddenly, he felt several tiny fingers gripping his swimsuit as his ears perked from the sound of several snaps popping. The sound was preceded by a sudden cooling sensation of the air against his belly and groin.

Stith nearly fell onto her back from giggling so hard. "I can see your _orwi_!" she shouted as she pointed at his long genital slit. A number of swimmers turned to see what was happening upon hearing her exclamation. She heard a few gasps from behind; one woman's voice was heard, hastily telling her children to close their eyes. Another voice shouted something condescending about mantrins having no shame.

Just the opposite, Nodyr was the model for shame. He was the child that showed up at school in only his underwear, only far more embarrassed. As his face turned the color of a tomato, he held both hands over his groin, and was not sure whether to fuss at Stith, or curl up and whimper for help. He wanted to do both. He lowered himself a bit in a subconscious effort to look smaller, and his eyes perused the water for his suit, which had landed right below.

To the rescue was Sarah, who ducked under his nearest leg and came up in front of him, standing against him to protect against any roaming eyes. She was blushing a bit herself, mainly from knowing just how uncomfortable her mate was. She did her best to laugh at the situation, even though she knew that he was only seconds from dying from embarrassment. "Be glad it's inside you right now," she said quietly, poking a finger near his slit in a manner so that no one else would see, not even Stith. "Males of my species would not be so fortunate. It'd be out in the open for the whole world to see. You're lucky."

All that he could do momentarily was emit a few high-pitched whimpers, much like a frightened puppy. His eyes returned to the sky. If anyone saw, he did not wish to know. "That's nice but could you help me?" he pleaded, barely above a whisper, and speaking very quickly.

"Of course," she said, smiling. "Though I kind of like this look better."

"Sarah!" he yelped.

"Okay, okay," she said and began to fish for the suit. "I'm just trying to make you smile. That's all." Soon she had it in her hands, and with a little help had fastened it back on his body. The process was slightly awkward as he should have been sitting to do it, however with four hands working it was less of a problem.

Once it had been reapplied, both Nodyr and Sarah turned to Stith. The little mantrin slunk backward, wishing to disappear beneath the water. Nodyr opened his mouth to speak, but Sarah put her hand up to stop him. She would handle it herself. "Come here Stith," she said, and then added upon seeing her terrified expression, "I'm not going to spank you. Please come here. I just want to talk."

"Promise?" she peeped, taking a step backward.

"Yes I promise," she said. "I hope my fingers and toes turn into _itfe_ toads if I lie. _Erseh_ promises too." The saying was something that she and Stith had made up at one time, just as a funny way of showing sincerity. The animal in question was a Solbrecht native, and resembled most closely a toad, hence the name. It was a tiny, foul smelling creature that ate microbes from the water, using a filtering system much like a baleen whale. It was not a pleasant animal to be in contact with, but it did help keep the waters clean, so they were tolerated.

At a painfully slow pace, one that would make a sloth jealous, Stith dragged her body toward her. By the end of the hour, she had made it, and then slowly brought her head up to look into Sarah's eyes, which were not overflowing with anger as she had expected. Instead they were calm and understanding.

"Stith," Sarah said, placing a hand under her jaw so that she would not look away. "That wasn't very nice what you did, was it?"

"No," she said with the hint of a whimper.

"And how would you feel if someone did that to you? Would you like it?" Sarah asked in a stern tone, although she placed a comforting hand on Stith's shoulder.

"No." The young mantrin looked down at her feet, or at least the spot where her feet disappeared under the water. He ears drooped low, lower than they had in a long time.

"So why did you do it? You made _erseh_ feel very bad."

"I don't know," Stith said, still looking at the water. In reality she did know, however the two reasons why would not have been justified. Revenge certainly was not, considering that she had asked to be thrown in the water in the first place. That had been her fault, as much as she did not wish to admit it. Her other reason was that she thought it was funny, and that would have never been an acceptable excuse.

"Stith, you need to think about how others would feel before you do something. If you wouldn't like it, then others probably wouldn't either. What if we had just done that to you?"

"I'd be mad," Stith said after a long pause. She stepped back a few feet and slowly brought her eyes back up to see Sarah, then over to Nodyr, then back to Sarah, and finally back to water. She knew what she had to do, as much as she did not want to do it. She opened her mouth, releasing a choked utterance, and then retreated as her muzzle came to a close. She tried again, not having much luck. Only a few "uh" sounds were heard. Her eyes returned to her parents again. Both appeared to be growing irritated with her. Finally, she spat out as quickly as she could, "I'm sorry!"

"Stith, I think you made that a little more difficult than it had to be," Sarah said, and then turned to Nodyr. "Do you accept?"

He nodded without hesitation. "I just can't stay mad at her," he said, cracking a smile.

"Am I in trouble?" Stith asked meekly.

"No," Sarah replied. "However, you really embarrassed him, and should he decide that he would rather we all leave right now and go back to the tent, then that's what we'll do. I don't want any crying if we do."

"No, we can stay," Nodyr said as Stith nearly fell over from relief. He _was_ extraordinarily embarrassed, but did not wish to be the one to disappoint her. He considered that if they could only move elsewhere in the lake, that it would be fine, provided that the nearby swimmers did not follow.

As another hour passed, the day began to wane. The sky was a canvas of yellows, oranges, reds, and purples as the sun gradually set, bringing relief to all and treating the few remaining swimmers that evening to a breathtaking display. There were only a few clouds in the sky, all thin and wispy as unique interruptions across the colorful canvas. Before long, the sun had disappeared over the horizon, leaving only a distant reminder that it had been there with its last trail of light.

The three were currently lying on their backs in the grass, feet in the water, and in the case of the two mantrins, their tails as well. Since Stith's little prank, the day had gone by smoothly, and for the past half hour they had said little. They were content to simply enjoy the sunset as it signaled the end of their day together. As the stars finally came into view, Nodyr's eyes walked along the celestial canopy in fascination.

"So which one of those is Earth again?" he asked, waving his hand across the sky in a broad, sweeping gesture.

"You can't see it," Sarah said. "Remember? But look up there, past those three stars in a row. Do you see them?" She pointed to her right in the sky.

Nodyr did his best to follow her outstretched finger, but could not see what she was trying to get him to see. He squinted tightly, but had no luck. Somehow he was missing it.

"Over there," she said upon noticing that he was having trouble. She place one hand on his far cheek and helped to direct his eyes in the right direction. She continued to point. "Right there, just look over your beak. Do you see it?"

He squinted again, looking intently, and then finally saw the three stars. "Yes!" he said happily, and then got Stith's attention. "Do you see them?" he asked her; she quickly nodded in agreement.

"Okay, just past those," Sarah said in a near whisper. "Over to the right. There's a really faint star. See it?"

"I think so," Nodyr said.

"Well that star is our sun, and Earth is three planets away. It's ninety-three million miles from there," Sarah said. "That's a long way."

"How many is that?" Stith asked.

"Oh it's many, many," Sarah said, laughing. "It's farther than you could walk in your whole life."

"Oh," Stith said as her ears fell backward. "I don't want to go there anymore."

"Well I do," he said. "I'd love to see the human's world, just once." He leaned his head back on his arms, gazing upward as he entertained the thought. As he daydreamed, he thought about what it must be like. Of course he had never been, and neither had Sarah; she had been born on Solbrecht. However they had both heard about Earth, and seen pictures that had been brought with new arrivals from the planet. He knew that the planet resembled his own, which explained how their species could be so compatible with their living conditions. He also knew that there were a few minute differences here and there. Earth rotated faster and thus had shorter days and a slightly higher gravity. It also had many continents, whereas Solbrecht only had two, plus some scattered islands here and there, and then the two poles. Earth also tended to not be so hot, except in a few locations. This he could certainly learn to live with; extreme heat was no one's friend. Suddenly, Nodyr sat up, wrinkling his muzzle in confusion. Just as quickly, he lay back down, curling against Sarah.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's nothing," he laughed. "I just thought I saw the star move for a second. It may have just been a passing spacecraft. Who knows?" After he spoke, he nuzzled against her, brushing some of the hair out of her face with his muzzle. "I'm trying not to let it bother me."

Sarah cooed from his touch as she turned into him, resting a hand behind his back. "Good for you," she said. She snuggled against him, her head resting by his neck.

They rested there for a while longer, (all three had grown tired from the swim, not to mention the heat) Sarah lazily rubbing his back and tail, and Nodyr continuing to nuzzle her, licking from time to time. Stith remained quiet, either having fallen asleep, or being too occupied by the stars to speak. Either way, it brought a thankful moment of peace to her parents.

After a while, she finally made herself noticeable once more. Stith hopped onto her feet, did what resembled a quick tap dance, and then leaned against Nodyr's back. "Let's go swimming again!" she said with sudden enthusiasm.

"Again?" Sarah asked. "I was about to go back to our tent. But you and _erseh_ can if you'd like."

Nodyr grunted. "You're leaving us?" he asked her in disappointment.

"Yes, I'm really tired and fear I have sunburn. I need to put some ointment on it," she said with a sigh. So I'm going back, alright?" she said, giving him a kiss between his nostrils and a little pat on the cheek.

"Well, okay," he said reluctantly, licking her in return.

"Bye," she said to them both.

It was then that Stith decided the best way to get him back in the lake was to pull his arm from the socket. She grabbed hold and began to tug, grunting a little. "Let's go!" she said, nearly demanding.

"I'm coming!" he said as he finally took his eyes off of his mate as she vanished into the distance. Nodyr slowly rose to his feet, and then lowered himself so that his rump was near the ground. "Climb on," he said cheerfully, turning to face her.

Soon Stith was up on his shoulders. Nodyr held onto her wrists to help keep her secure. Without any need to rush he stepped back into the lake, giving his body a chance to gradually become reacquainted with the water. Once he was deep enough for the water to touch his lower set of knees, he took a moment to enjoy the feeling of the wet sand and mud through his toes; he wiggled and flexed them, letting the sand squish between them, and drawing unseen patterns with his large toe claws.

A little further out, Nodyr held onto her tightly and then pushed off of his feet, floating momentarily in the water like a large piece of driftwood. When he was deep enough that his feet no longer touched the bottom, he paddled with his hands in a "dog paddle" as Sarah had shown him once. He used his long tail as sort of rudder to help steer and move through the water, much like an otter. Having partial Goureg blood, his tail had grown a little longer and stronger like theirs, and was rather effective when swimming. He continued to float under the moonlight with Stith hanging on to him tightly. He had not heard her speak since getting in the water, and he began to wonder if she had fallen asleep.

Light reflecting from the two moons danced on the water. "Fairies," as some liked to call the phenomena. At this time, the lake was nearly deserted. Only two others were around, and they were off in the distance. Nodyr wondered why, as everyone was missing out on a very peaceful evening.

He remained relatively still, just in case Stith really was trying to sleep. "Are you awake?" he asked quietly.

"Mmhmm," she said.

"You were so quiet," he said. "I wasn't sure."

Nodyr drifted around in the lake a while longer, enjoying the quiet. As he looked around, it suddenly occurred to him that the rest of the swimmers were now gone. The sensation he received was a tad eerie, while at the same time comforting. No one was around to bother them for once. They had the lake all to themselves. Their only company that evening was a scattered bunch of chattering insects deep in the surrounding forest.

"Have you had a nice birthday?" he asked her, looking over his shoulder. His tail flicked and splashed in the water while he waited for a response.

"Mmhmm," she said again.

"Is that all you can say?" he asked.

"Mmhmm."

They both laughed.

For a while, Stith said little else. Nodyr could feel her growing sleepier and sleepier on his back as her motion began to slow. When his arms began to grow tired, he stretched out his legs to see if he could reach the bottom. They did, just barely, as his nails tapped the sand. He tiptoed a few steps, moving closer to the shoreline so that he would have room to let his feet fully touch. Even in the water, he would not be able to hold his legs extended for long.

A fish bumped against his ankle. Nodyr yelped in surprise, but quickly figured out what it was. He breathed a sigh of relief, but just then several more fish darted past nearly knocking him off his feet from the force of the bump. He wondered what could be causing them to get so excited. There were no real predators in the area.

As he pondered this, he heard a loud splash from the far shore. Nearly at the same moment he heard a voice, a low female's. "I got one!" she shouted in Preidogian. Nodyr looked over his shoulder in time to see a completely nude Goureg female leap out of the water, a huge fish in hand. Without even looking in his direction, she took off running toward the forest.

"That's not normal," Nodyr muttered, unsure of what else to think about it. With his eyes still on the forest he thought he saw a few other figures off in the distance, just past the first few rows of trees. As far away as they were, he was quite sure that it was just an animal or two, yet what he was seeing looked so large. At least he thought it did. They darted from tree to tree, as though playing a game of hide and seek in the dark.

"Stith, do you see those?" he whispered, pointing out in the forest.

"Huh?" she said, smacking her lips. "Oh, yeah, some mantrins. Over there." She waved her hand over to the right, the opposite direction of where Nodyr had been looking.

He followed her fingertips to find two mantrins walking together near the coastline, and heading in the direction of the forest. Neither was wearing a shirt, which gave Nodyr a clear guess as to their sex. Both were male Orkehts and about the same height, although one appeared just a tad taller than the other. This one had on a pair of shorts that appeared dark green in the moonlight. The two were yelling at each other in their native language about something, although Nodyr could not hear them clearly. One thing that was clear however was that the smaller one was very irritated about something. He was wildly gesturing with hands as he spoke, and sounded far more riled.

Quickly, Nodyr's eyes jumped back to his left to see more movement behind the trees. His ears leapt to attention as he thought he heard laughter coming from them. "Stith," let's go back, alright?" he said nervously. He could feel his chest beginning to pound. All of this was a little too strange for his comfort. He looked up to see the two Orkehts had already made it the forest's edge.

"Why?" she asked.

"We need to check on _ahmo_," he said hastily.

His still alert ears caught the distant sound of chattering, and then another wave of laughter. Without even thinking, he grabbed Stith's wrists and ran at full force out of the lake, and then across the open field back in the direction of their tent. By the time he had made it, Nodyr was so out of breath that he felt in danger of fainting. He took a moment to catch a few breaths as he leaned over to let Stith climb off of him. "Get in the tent now!" he said, coughing from how winded he was. His hands were trembling as he placed them on her shoulders. "Get in there and help protect _ahmo. _Okay? Don't come out until I tell you."

"But why? I want to stay with you!"

"Now Stith!" he said. Nodyr leaned over and licked her on the cheek. "Please, get in there. " He gently pushed her toward the tent's opening. "When I come back, we'll have some birthday cake, okay?"

"Alright," Stith said reluctantly. She slipped into the tent and sat down. No one was there. She could not see as it was pitch black, but she knew. She could not catch her mother's scent. Fumbling through the darkness, Stith felt the flashlight, and quickly flicked it on. She sat against the far corner of the tent, holding the light in her lap and waiting, her eyes locked on the tent's entrance.

She waited and waited some more. She continued to wonder what had upset him. She wondered where Sarah was. She wondered how much longer they would be.

Her young ears suddenly grew alert. Her other senses were nearly useless. There was nothing to smell, and in the darkness she could barely see. The flashlight beam only let her see to the opening of the tent, and that was only if she aimed it directly there. She listened. All was quiet. She listened more carefully. There was too much silence.

There was a rustle. She heard footsteps. "_Erseh?_" she said timidly. There was no answer. "_Erseh_?" she said again. Still no answer.

Wait, he had said. As much as she wanted to get up, his words continued going through her head. Normally she would have been bold enough to disobey, but she was growing too frightened to want to do so. Darkness could be crippling to one so young. Waiting was all she could do.

Gradually, she began to hum to herself to break the silence. She hummed nothing in particular, only random, directionless sounds, anything to keep her mind from thinking up horrible things. But then, her mind did not need to do anything. A sudden scream cut through her song. It was distant, but she heard it.

She knew the voice. It screamed the name of her father.

Overcome with fear, Stith grabbed a nearby blanket, buried herself in it, and turned off the light. She lay under the blanket in a tight, shivering ball, hoping no one would find her.


	6. Wyr'Mo'Gwi

**Chapter 6**

_Wyr'Mo'Gwi_

As Stith waited in the darkness, her ears remained alert. She had not wanted to hear any more screams, but at the same time began to wish that she could at least hear something. Why was there nothing more? Panic overcame her as she began to wonder why there was not a second or third scream. Still, she continued to wait. Surely they would come back any minute and assure her everything was going to be just fine.

After a few more frightened minutes, she could control herself no longer. She opened her mouth and cried out: "_Ahmo! Ahmo!_" There was no response.

Stith huddled back against the far corner of the tent, arms wrapped around her top knees as she aimed the flashlight at the entrance. The light was quickly flicked off as she began to worry that someone, whoever had made her mother scream, might be able to see her. She continued to wait in the darkness.

"_Erseh_?" she whimpered. He did not answer.

Just then, Stith heard footsteps coming from outside. This was accompanied by intense verbal fighting between two others who were yelling in Preidogian. She wished that she knew the language better; she only caught a few of the words, none of which helped her to understand what was being said. Whatever it was, they were very angry at one another. Much to her unease, neither voice sounded like family.

Her ears caught the nearby, yet quiet sound of a tent being unzipped. A man's voice was heard, demanding to know what was happening. He paused mid sentence, gasping in horror. Stith thought she heard something about calling the police, followed by a snarl on the other side of her tent, and then another scream, this one coming from the man.

Stith's ears remained painfully alert as she began to shiver. Her entire body shook uncontrollably. She grabbed the nearest blanket and pulled it over her head, in her mind feeling that if she could see nothing that it would not exist. Much to her relief, the sounds soon faded, leaving her in silence. This followed the sound of the footsteps rapidly moving away from her, far into the distance until they could be heard no more.

She waited in the still quiet once again. The blanket still covered her, and the light remained off. "_Erseh," _she whimpered again, nearly at a whisper. She continued to shiver. Tears began to form in her eyes until cheeks were flooded with quiet tears. The tiny droplets fell from her face onto her shirt, soaking it in small patches. She sniffled, teeth chattering together helplessly from her shakes.

Soon the silence was interrupted by yet another scream, this one from a woman. Stith heard her begin to weep loudly, asking in agony why this was happening. The young mantrin was not sure whom she was talking to, but the other person did not answer. The sobs continued, and as she listened, her own took a momentary pause.

A part of her was overcome with curiosity. _Why is she crying?_ she thought. Stith drug herself near the tent's entrance. She was quite nervous still, but it seemed safe to go out, at least somewhat. First, she brought her eye near the opening and tried to see something, anything, squinting tightly into the night. After a moment she caught the fuzzy image of the woman on her knees, a few feet away from the nearest tent. She was human, with a full head of brown hair.

"Help," Stith said quietly, hoping that she would come. She did not.

Stith poked her head out of the tent, her eyes darting to and fro. "_Ahmo_? _Erseh_? Still no answer. There appeared to be no one around at all other than the woman, who did not seem to notice Stith, or anything else for that matter. Very slowly, she pulled herself full out of the tent, pausing every few seconds to look around some more, just in case anyone was still there. She greatly feared that whoever had been outside her tent arguing was still there, waiting to grab her when she let down her guard.

It did not happen.

Stith walked past the woman, looking back at her with curiosity. Her eyes caught the form of something under her. It looked much like a person. Stith stepped a little closer, and even in the darkness she could see that he was bleeding. The moonlight accentuated the blood running from his throat and staining his shirt. Eventually she had grown the nerve to step next to the woman.

Stith glanced from the man on the ground, to her, and then back. "Is he okay?" she asked, feeling her eyes begin to tear up again.

"No!" she screamed, her voice cracking through her tears. She did not even look back to see who had spoken. "Someone killed him! Probably one of those filthy mantrins." Her hysterical voice regressed to a mutter as she finished her words.

"Um," Stith said timidly. "He'll be okay." Her young mind would not, could not allow her to accept that he might actually be dead. These things did not happen, not to her anyway.

"No he won't!" she said, her voice returning to a scream. It was then that she looked in Stith's direction, her eyes opening wide in fright. The frightened eyes then narrowed with anger. "Get away from me!" she shrieked, her hand rose up, slapping Stith across the cheek. "Go!"

The young mantrin was too shocked to know what to do. Her eyes closed tightly from the stinging that overtook the side of her face. The tears that had been ready to burst finally erupted. She held her cheek, and turned and ran, not even knowing where she was running. She called out repeatedly for her parents. Either would have been fine, but neither answered. No matter how many times, or how loudly she called for them, there was no answer.

Soon Stith's path was stopped abruptly by a large tree. She peered through a cataract of water-blurred eyes, blinking a few times to see that she was right outside the forest. With a hand against the nearest tree, she looked around the campsite, her hearts pounding like little drums as she looked in vain for a familiar face.

She knew not what else to do, other than to continue past the trees. She reasoned that If her parents were not out of the forest, they must have been inside. The thought of going there alone, and at night frightened her, but the thought of staying by herself with someone out there that was killing people frightened her even more. Without giving it much further thought, she dashed into the forest.

It was not long before her nostrils caught a very fowl scent. The odor caused her stomach to do a somersault. Stith clasped both hands over her nostrils and went in the opposite direction. She dared not go too far into the forest, only staying where it was not too dark. Further in, the trees were so thick that little to no moonlight passed through to the forest floor.

As she stumbled almost blindly around the trees, Stith bumped into a leg. The sudden stopped sent her backward, onto her rump. "_Ahmo_?" she said meekly, looking upward. It was not her. This she knew instantly upon seeing a tail. She could not detect the scent of Nodyr either. This mantrin had a familiar scent however, not necessarily one that comforted her, but familiar nonetheless.

"No Stith," said a low voice. "Was she out here?"

The scent along with the voice told her who it was. The Orkeht that she had seen earlier that day stood before her. "I-I don't know," she said. "I can't find her anywhere!" As she said this, she began to choke on her words through the tears.

"Uh," he said awkwardly, not really knowing how to react. He had no experience with children at all. "It'll be okay. What did she look like? Maybe I can help you find her?"

Stith let her sobs slow up for a moment as a little ray of hope took her hand. "She's got long hair, and it's brown, and is skinny, and she had on a bathing suit, and that's all."

"Really?" he said a bit nervously. He took an extraordinarily deep breath for one his size and then let it out in a heavy sigh. He did this again and gnawed on his lip while he looked at her, or more accurately, off to her side. "Stith, I think you need to come with me." He said this as gently as he could, hoping not to frighten her any more than he knew these words would.

The response was a little better than he had planned, although he was quite sure that she did not realize that he meant to go home with him. "Why?" Stith asked. "Do you know where she is?"

Myolu fidgeted. "Well," he said. "I think I might."

Before he could continue, he was interrupted by another mantrin. He leapt out from one of the trees, landing next to him. "Hey who's this?" he said quickly, looking at Stith, and then back at him. "This isn't the girl getting abused is it?"

Myolu groaned from the question. "I told you," he said roughly. "We're not speaking any more tonight. This girl is probably going to have to come with us now, and you're the one to blame for it."

"I didn't kill her!" he shouted.

"Yeah, like you didn't kill that man?" Myolu asked with a venomous sneer.

Hearing this, Stith took a step back, her jaw agape in a mixture of shock and horror. "W-W-What'd you do?" she asked, preparing to flee at any moment. "I saw him!"

It was then that the other Orkeht turned his attention to her. "You haven't heard any of this!" he said angrily.

Just as she was about to run, she heard a snarl, and saw the underside of a foot. What followed was darkness.

ooo

Stith came to in a room that was unfamiliar to her. The first evident sense was her sight. Even though her vision was fuzzy, she could tell that she was alone, as well as on the floor, curled up on her side.

She slowly moved her eyes over the walls of the room. They were built from dark, roughly cut stone, and the floor was built from dark, teak-like wood planks that were also roughly cut, but they were stained dark and sealed with a shiny, varnish-like substance so that whoever walked or ran on them did not have to worry about splinters. The ceiling was of the same wood as the floor. In the middle of the ceiling were four square openings, about a meter across that formed the corners of a larger square pattern that took up a good part of the ceiling's middle. These apparently served as skylights, to allow daylight into the room. On one side of each skylight was a rolled patch of very thick, dense leather-like material, each roll tightly bound with twine. As she turned her head from side to side, Stith saw that on opposite ends of the room were two curtains. It was too dark on either side to give her any hope of being able to get outside, wherever she was.

The room was furnished fairly simply. All furnishings were roughly crafted out of the same wood as the ceiling and the floor. In one corner was a crudely built bed; Stith lay beside it. The mattress was made of cloth-wrapped grass, as Stith could see small blades of it around the sides of the bed and pinched between the mattress and the frame. There was only a simple, very thin sheet made from the same material as the mattress, along with a pillow that was no more than a miniature version of the it; little blades of grass were poking from the pillow as well. In the middle of the room was a large rug with characters stained into it that if Stith remembered correctly were from the Preidogian script. Small square pillows were set around the edges of the rug.

The second sense that came to her was the sense of smell. It was in the form of a strong scent of wood, similar to being in a log cabin. There were other more peculiar scents that all seemed to live in the room. She could recognize none of them, and to her none were particularly pleasant.

The third sense was her sense of touch. As she grew more and more conscious she became increasingly aware of an intense throbbing above her eyes. Slowly she brought her hand up to the spot and felt a frighteningly large lump that ached even more when she touched it. The pain from her bruises and scraped leg all came back to her, and felt even more uncomfortable than before she had fainted.

She looked around some more. Sunlight continued to pour in through the skylights. She had been pretty sure that it was nighttime. After all, she _had_ just been in the woods in the middle of the night. _Why's it sunny?_ she thought. "_Erseh_?_ Ahmo_?" she suddenly moaned in a helpless attempt at finding them, holding her throbbing head again.

There was an answer, although not what she had hoped. Her sense of hearing finally kicked in as her ears perked at the sound of a voice from the other side of the current. "I heard her. She's awake now," came a sweet contralto voice, speaking in Preidogian. A small female mantrin of Sogowan descent pushed her way through the entrance and glanced down at Stith. She appeared to be in her early twenties, just around the age of maturity for the average mantrin. Her almond shaped eyes glowed with a youthful energy and vigor.

The female stepped aside to allow another mantrin to enter, this one male and of Logri descent, the rich black skin and dark eyes that were characteristic of his race being evidence. If it were not for his long, light grey beak and underbelly, he would have been a fifty-year-old shadow.

"You're awake, I see," the male said bluntly. His voice was a deep rumble.

Stith did not respond, much less look at him.

"Oh dear Lupit," said the female. "Look at all of those bruises. We're so fortunate she's here now." She then returned her attention to Stith. "Everything will be alright. Don't worry."

Stith hardly understood a word. The accent was too thick, and her own knowledge of the language was still dismal. All she did was look at this Sogowan with confusion and fear.

"We were starting to worry about you," the mantrin referred to as Lupit said. "I didn't think you would wake after being hit in the head so hard. I can assure you though that the mantrin responsible for doing that is being dealt with right now."

Stith continued to stare, not really knowing what to say, as she did not really know what was being said.

"Okay Stith, you don't have to talk," Lupit said, his deep voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Be nice to her," the female said. "She's probably very frightened right now."

"Fine," he said, and then waved his hand dismissively for her to leave.

"Fine," she said as well. "Stith, I'll be outside if you need me," she added and then hurriedly left.

Being left alone with this huge male triggered Stith's most extreme fear, and all but disregarding her pain she attempted to get up and run away from him. Just as she had managed to get to her feet, her legs gave away, sending her back to the floor. As she looked back at him, it became more and more obvious how large he was. He was a little taller than Nodyr, and very wide and thick, almost unnaturally so from what she was used to seeing. He appeared as strong as six mantrins as well, despite not seeing any noticeable muscle on his sleek body. Something about him however gave her the impression of great strength.

Lying there on the floor with this black behemoth, and knowing that her legs did not want to work at the moment caused Stith to burst into tears. "Where's _ahmo _and _erseh_?" she sobbed. "I want to go home. How do you know my name?" she suddenly asked, surprised that a stranger should know her.

He only responded to the last question. "Someone told me. I believe you know him. Myolu?" Lupit said. "Oh," he quickly added, kneeling down so that he was closer to her; this only led to Stith scooting backward and beginning to shiver. "I would advise you to not use the human's tongue any longer. You might receive worse than a bump on the head if anyone finds out where you're from."

"What?" Stith said, partially not understanding his words, and partially not understanding what he meant. She also did not understand what Myolu had to do with it. The last thing she remembered was that he was going to help her find her parents. She thought that maybe if she could find him, then he could help her again. She would do it despite the sudden loss of trust in him, as long as his friend stayed far away. He was what worried her the most.

"I said don't use that language anymore. Our kind has their own you know," Lupit said.

"What?" Stith said again. She had been lucky to catch half of that. Unfortunately it was not enough to get the meaning of either sentence.

The Logri groaned, turning his head upon the thick neck to face the far curtain. "Kiryee, I need you back in here," he said.

The Sogowan female stepped back into the room almost immediately. "What is it?" she asked.

"Her," he said, motioning towards Stith. "She doesn't seem to understand me."

"Well even I don't understand you sometimes," Kiryee said, kneeling beside Lupit, and then playfully nudging him in the side.

"I'm serious," he grumbled. "She only seems to know the human's tongue."

Kiryee shrugged her shoulders a little. "Maybe she doesn't want to talk to you. Ever think of that? You are a stranger. You can't blame her."

He crossed his arms over his wide chest. "Well she has nothing to fear from us. She should be happy now. She's safe from that woman that was abusing her."

"Then obviously she doesn't want to talk to you. She'll be fine eventually, once she gets used to her new home."

"I sure hope so," he said. "And I hope Myolu gets here soon so I can go. I don't care to watch her all day. He can explain to her the situation."

Kiryee offered a slight smile. "I'd be glad to help," she said. "It'll be fun."

"No," he replied. "You already have a job to do. Myolu will do it. He brought her here, she's his responsibility."

"Maybe," she said with a hint of mischief, her eyes rising to the ceiling as she pondered the possibility of raising Stith, whom she then turned to face. "Stith we won't hurt you. Don't be afraid," she said as sweetly as she could manage. "I can be your new _ahmo_ if you want."

"No!" Stith shouted. She had understood the last part rather well. "I don't need a new one!" She slammed her fist against the wood floor, and then picked up the nearest pillow, tossing it at Kiryee. "Go away!"

Kiryee blinked, glancing at Lupit. "What did she say?"

"She doesn't want you for a parent. Could you stop asking now?" he grumbled.

"For now," she said. "Oh hey I haven't had a bath in a few days, so I'm going to go to lake for a while. It's a really nice day outside. Would you like to join me? I'm feeling very evil right now." She emitted a short, twisted laugh, grinning at Lupit.

"No," he replied. "I have to stay with this girl until Myolu comes, remember? Besides, I'm too old for you if you mean what I think."

"Aww, you're no fun." She laughed and turned to walk away, but not before giving the back of his right ear a flirting lick.

Though he secretly enjoyed it, Lupit did not let it show. "Do you mind? What would Eleisynsay if she knew you were flirting with the _abwot_?" He tried to hide the smile that was creeping onto his beak.

Kiryee stopped, then turned to face him. "That old miserable woman? _Ahmo's _mad no matter what I do." She snorted and crossed her arms. Her tail lashed back and forth. "No wonder she's in charge of punishment."

"Well she does a very good job. Everyone is too afraid too break rules," he said. "Lyr last night is the only problem we've had in a long time."

She shuddered as she thought about it. "I don't even want to know what she's doing to him right now. And now that I'm thinking horrible things, I'm going to the lake, for real now."

"Bye," he said as he watched her leave. Her tail swung merrily behind her in a nearly seductive manner.

Returning his attention to Stith, Lupit continue to eye her. She not moved, nor made a sound since she had stopped crying about midway into his and Kiryee's conversation. He ran his eyes over her, wondering just how much longer he was going to have to stay there. _Wonderful_, he thought. _Power over one hundred mantrins, and here you are babysitting a little brat_. "How long could a picnic take?," he said aloud, although more to himself than to Stith. The particular Orkeht on his mind had promised to come check on her regularly, and had said that he would be back after he stepped outside to eat. That had been nearly three hours ago.

Just then there was a rustle on the curtain. "Come in," Lupit said to it.

Two figures appeared in the room, one after another. Stith did not recognize the first. He was a very tall Goureg, even taller than Lupit. He appeared to be about middle aged, possibly old enough to be a grandfather even. He wore very odd garments that covered his shoulders, chest, and lower body only that gave the impression of a partially wrapped mummy (now that Stith had time to notice, Lupit was wearing the same strange attire, however he wore nothing above his hips.). The Goureg's body was finely muscled. It appeared well condition, but nothing extreme. Once he had taken a few more steps into the room, Stith noticed that his body was damp, as was the smaller mantrin behind him whom she recognized. It was Myolu, and standing next to these two tall mantrins, he appeared as no more than a child.

Before either of the two had had a chance to speak, Lupit addressed them. "You can take her now," he said rather bluntly. He would have left at that moment, if not for the fact that they were in his room already.

"Oh dear," Myolu said the second he realized that she was conscious again. He quickly became overly apologetic as he spoke to her in the language that he knew she could understand. "Stith I'm really sorry about this. I'm glad you're okay. I never knew my friend was going to do what he did. I'm really really sorry about that. I didn't want to bring you here, but I couldn't leave you alone after that. Sorry," he said yet again. I'm just glad you're alright."

"Talk about this elsewhere," Lupit said irritably. "I'd appreciate some quiet. I want to take a nap."

Myolu sighed, his eyes resting on the floor along with his ears. "Stith come along please," he said, and then turned to leave without waiting for a reply. His long striped tail drug behind him. The Goureg that was with him quickly followed.

Lupit was already lying on his bed when he addressed her as well. "Get up!" he said gruffly. "I think you were just asked to go. Don't be rude."

"Sorry," Stith said, judging mostly from his tone that he was not wishing for her to stay where she was. She hopped up, reluctantly trotting out of the room. She was afraid to leave, but at the same time was even more afraid at what might happen if this huge mantrin grew angry with her. She imagined that she would surely develop a crick in her neck from trying to look up to see him.

Upon passing through the curtain, Stith found herself in a very dark hallway, lit only by a few distantly spaced torches. At the far end she saw an opening with sunlight peeping in, illuminating the exit. From where she was standing, the exit appeared to lead to a large grassy field. What she also saw Myolu, along with the other mantrin that had been with him. Both were leaning against the far wall, waiting for her.

The large Goureg spoke first. He had the soft voice of a middle-aged man, and it was not very deep at all. "_Uhreaht_ Stith," he said, using only Preidogian. "I'm Tiryso. It's nice to meet you, even though this dark corridor is not the most desirable place for a new acquaintance. I've agreed to look after you."

"What?! Where's _ahmo_? I want to see her now!" she said, demanding with quite a bit of bravery for her situation.

"Well," Myolu said nervously, for the first time reverting to the local mantrins' language. "We need to speak about that. And please don't use that language. It's not allowed here anymore."

"Why not? That's stupid!" she shouted, her tail swishing angrily.

Myolu sighed, rubbing at his brow. "You may not like it, but that's how it is right now. Lupit says Preidogian only, and he's the boss. You don't want him to get mad do you?"

"He's not the boss of me!" Stith said. "_Erseh_ will come beat him up!"

"What?" Myolu said, his mouth wide open. He then turned to Tiryso, nearly placing his muzzle on the Goureg's belly. "She never told me she had a father. I can't believe this. _Jhii_!" he muttered and swore.

"It's not your fault," Tiryso said, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, and then giving his attention to Stith. "Where is he?" he asked.

"I don't know! He's supposed to know!" she screamed, pointing at Myolu.

"Please calm down," Tiryso said to her, and then to the Orkeht: "We were going to my room, weren't we?"

"Yeah," he replied with a sigh. "Come on Stith. We have some things to talk about, and then I'll see about finding your _erseh_."

Stith's brow lowered. "Promise?" she asked.

"Yes we do," Tiryso said. "You have to promise us something too however. Promise that you'll stop speaking with the humans' language."

A very low growl was heard as she chewed on her bottom lip, nearly drawing blood from it. It was bad enough that she did not feel comfortable with Preidogian, but what made it especially annoying to Stith was the fact that she did not want to let these strangers win. "Fine," she said at the bottom of her voice.

Stith followed the two further down the hall in the direction of the exit. They stopped several yards from it and turned to pull aside a curtain before stepping into the room. Once inside, she noticed that the room was nearly identical to Lupit's. The main difference was the rug that had different designs on it, all arranged in a spiral. The bed was in the same corner, and the room had the same woodsy smell. Another scent came to her as she adjusted to the surroundings, although much like the odd scents in the last room, she was not sure what it was. The skylights were all uncovered, letting in plenty of fresh sunlight.

"Please have a seat," Tiryso said to her. He motioned to his bed, which was very long, not to mention wide to accommodate his large body.

She did as she was asked, however instead of sitting on the bed, she helped herself to one of the floor pillows, just to be as disobedient as she could and still appear to be cooperating. An uncomfortable silence followed as the three exchanged glances. On several occasions, Myolu appeared to be about to speak, but it never happened.

Finally he did in a fit of frustration. "I can't do this!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "Tiryso could you help me please?"

"Very well," he said sadly as he walked over to his bed and sat upon it. "But first Stith, let me ask you something, and please be honest."

"What?"

It took a few slow breaths before he continued. "I need to know if you were ever mistreated by your family. I don't mean being punished, or not getting a toy you wanted, but if they ever hit you or yelled at you for no reason. Answer me honestly."

"No," Stith said immediately, very unsure of why he would ask something so terrible.

"I believe you," he said calmly, and then looked at Myolu who was in the process of shrinking to the size of a pebble.

The Orkeht looked back at him, guilt, shame, and dread all coating his expression. "B-b-but, what about your bruises?" he stuttered, hoping that she would change her mind and help ease his guilt.

Stith's head snapped around to face him. "I fell!"

"Oh," Myolu said. Gradually he let his eyes make their way to the curtain. He hiccupped a few times and then held a hand over his stomach. "I'm feeling ill," he said as his voice trembled slightly. "I'm going to go outside just in case I lose my breakfast. Stith, I'm leaving you with Tiryso. He won't hurt you, I promise. He's going to look after you anyway for now."

"I'm here if you need a hug. Be well," Tiryso said to him as he returned his attention to Stith. "This is going to be very difficult for me to say twice, so please listen closely. And before I begin, I do want to continue to assure you that while you are here, Myolu and I are your friends. You can always feel safe around us. Now are you ready to hear what I have to say?""I guess," she said indifferently. Her only concern was when she was going to get to see her parents again.

First, Tiryso let out his breath in a long sigh and rubbed his temple. "Okay," he said, sighing once more. "I won't use our language just this once to make sure you understand what I am trying to tell you. Myolu thought that your caretaker was abusing you. He saw your bruises and remembered you saying that she hits you a lot, and made an assumption that now seems to be false.

"Well then he's stupid," Stith said with a grunt.

"No he's not," Tiryso said. "He was just misinformed. And I fear he made a costly mistake from this. Do you remember the mantrin that kicked you?"

"Yes."

"Well, his name is Lyr, and he really doesn't like humans. In fact, you could say he hates them. A lot of mantrins here hate them really."

"What?!" Stith suddenly said, interrupting. There was only one place she knew of where humans were hated so much. "Am I at _Wyr'Mo'Gwi_?!"

"I suppose you could say that," he said. "But we don't call our community that anymore. We haven't since we left the city long ago, and that I can tell you more about later if you wish." He looked down to see her beginning to shiver. "It's okay," he told her. "I'm a friend as I said. But, this is why you need to avoid using any human things, including their language, because it might upset someone here and that could be trouble. I'm asking you to do this for your safety."

"Oh," she said. She was really not sure what to think. She was afraid, she knew that, but this was certainly not what she had expected. Part of her did not believe that she was really there. She had half expected to have been tied to the wall and whipped by now, while hundreds of mantrins laughed gleefully at her. Everything seemed a little too normal to her. She looked down at herself with a sudden sensation of anxiety. She still wore her swimsuit, a very human thing indeed. After lightly tugging on it, she curled up in an attempt to make herself look smaller. Her eyes remained hidden from Tiryso's view.

He felt sorry for her, knowing how afraid she must have been. He knew that he had done all he could for her to help her be more at ease, at least for now. Seeing her curled up did not help him feel any better about what he was about to say. Sighing, he continued. "Myolu made the mistake of telling Lyr that you were being abused--he honestly thought that you were—just in case we needed to intervene. Well Myolu wanted to watch you, and make sure you were alright. I think he believed that you were, but wanted to be sure. Lyr wanted to bring you here right away, and to kill the woman that was abusing you if he had the chance. I'm afraid he did."

Stith's eyes crept over her forearm until they met his. "What do you mean?" she asked pathetically.

Tiryso paused, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. "Stith, this is hard for me to say, but she was killed."

Silence filled the room, as though all life had been sucked out of it. Stith's view of him became more and more blurred as her eyes were overcome with tears. "Why?"

"I don't know," he said. "It was never anything we meant to have happen. I don't know if this helps, but Lyr is probably no longer alive either."

"No," she choked into her arm, falling onto her side on the rug, and curling up again.

Tiryso knew that the best action was no action at all. He gave her all the time that she needed to cry, not speaking to her once. However he did keep an eye on her, just to make sure that she would not try to flee. As he waited, he lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, and wondering what must be going through her mind. A tear came to his eye, which he quickly wiped away and dried off on his lower garment.

After a while he got up from his bed and walked through the curtain on the other side of the room. Shortly after he returned, holding two small, ceramic bowls in his hands. One was filled with fresh water and the other with a generous supply of local berries. Quietly he knelt beside her, placing the bowls near her legs, and then sitting down himself.

"If you're hungry, I brought you a little to eat," he said to her. Tiryso tried to give her a comforting rub between the ears, but instead of feeling her head, he felt several teeth angrily clamping down on his fingers. He yelped and tugged back on his hand, not having much luck pulling it from her powerful grip. Sighing, he reached forward with his other hand to help pry Stith's beak open and free his himself.

Tiryso held the bitten hand by the wrist, looking it over. His fingers had teeth marks and there were little dabs of blood in a few places. He carefully licked over the wounds, looking at Stith sadly. The young mantrin had not made eye contact with him since hearing the news. He did not blame her of course. "I guess you really are hungry," he said halfheartedly, looking at his gnawed hand again.

Upon smelling the berries, Stith quietly whimpered. She was very hungry, yes, but she did not want his food. She wanted Nodyr's food. She would have given anything for him to be able to cook for her. More than anything however, she wanted to be with him.

It appeared as though Stith were about to speak; she finally looked up at Tiryso, her bloodshot eyes a bottomless well of misery, and opened her mouth. However, she then looked back at the rug. A strangled sob escaped from deep within her body as she painfully swallowed and buried her head in her knees. Her crying resumed.

"Go away, I hate you," she finally said without looking at him.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," he said to her. "I'll get up if you wish." Tiryso returned to his bed, sitting up this time. He rested his elbows on his top knees and his head in hands.

Once he was up, she could control her hunger no longer. Stith immediately shoved her muzzle into the berries, several of them mashing against and coloring her beak.

"I know you're hungry, but please slow down," Tiryso whispered. "It's better for you if you do." Stith ignored him, and without looking up to acknowledge that he spoke, continued to devour the berries which were gone within fifteen seconds, at the most. And then, once the berries were gone, she drug her tongue all over the inside of the bowl, not missing a particle of juice.

When she realized that there was no more, she noticed the bowl of water, and immediately gripped the edge of the bowl within her mouth. She quickly tilted her head back, the bowl still gripped in her teeth, and tried to drink through the tiny opening that they formed. Most of the water managed to get on her chest and the floor instead. Once she was finished, she tossed the bowl aside. It rolled around the floor for a moment before coming to a halt with a loud clattering sound.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Stith quietly chanted as she shivered, her frightened eyes stuck on the bowl. "Don't hurt me."

"I don't plan to," Tiryso said as he looked over his top knees at her. "Please believe me when I say I don't want to hurt you. I never did." He repeated himself, speaking as softly as possible. "I can't ask for your trust, but at least you need to realize that I mean you no harm. Do you believe me?"

"I hate you," she said with more sorrow than anger.

"Stith," he said.

"What?" she asked

"I'm sorry. Not sure what else to say right now."

A half hour passed. Stith had not spoken, nor had she moved from her spot on the floor. The only sound she made was a sneeze and a few faint whimpers. Eventually she rolled onto her back, eyes fixated on the open skylights, and through them to the clouds above. "I have to go," Stith quietly said as she watched a cloud drift past the opening.

Tiryso's ears perked. "Where do you have to go?"

"I gotta pee!"

"Oh." He smirked. "Well then, let's go." Tiryso stood back up and offered his hand to help her stand.

Stith jerked away and grunted, refusing his help. She slowly sat and made it to her feet on her own. She tested the ground like a sailor taking his first steps on land after a month at sea. After a few minutes of reacquainting her legs with her weight, Stith took her first step and immediately stopped as her head began to throb again. To her it felt as though a wildfire was raging between her eyes. "Oww," she said, holding a hand over the bump.

"I hope that heals soon," Tiryso said with a sigh. "At least you weren't hurt worse."

Stith moaned and then craned her neck far back to look up at him. "Can we go?" she asked impatiently.

"Yes," he said as he walked toward the exit. "I need to go myself."

ooo

Tiryso had gone out of his way to avoid contact with other mantrins in hopes of avoiding a much unwelcome disturbance from having this stranger there; he even considered going out the back of his room, and trying to sneak over the large wall that surrounded his garden. His mission was almost entirely successful; the only mantrin they crossed paths with was a returning Kiryee, who was still somewhat wet and only wearing her lower wrappings. The rest were piled high in her arms so that her breasts were well covered. Her back and lower belly were all that were exposed to any degree, much to the dismay of most of the other males in the hall.

The area that Tiryso had lead Stith to was north of where he lived about the distance of a football field, and into the wooded area that Wyr'Mo'Gwi kept residence. Sap-covered twigs snapped under their feet, with Stith flinching every now and then in surprise. The sloped ground was covered with these twigs, twigs that choked off the richly green, dense, and tall grass. The canopy of the fern-like _haot_ trees that were indigenous to the region shaded them fairly well, and except for the occasional peek of the sun it looked almost like it were evening. Tiryso was able to take off the hood-like ear wrappings and then drape them over his broad shoulders.

The wooded area was alive with life, mostly vegetation. The trees were very scraggly, the crooked roots partially exposed and leaving the occasional gap under the trunk of the tree. Some were large enough that Stith could nearly crawl underneath them. The grayish-brown bark of the trees was covered with a thin, fuzzy, yellow tinted moss, giving the impression of many cobwebs stuck to the bark. Large, tobacco-like plants kept residence around the trees, their green, teardrop shaped leaves easily the size of one of Tiryso's large feet. These leaves were what contributed the most to the

". . .nasty bugs," Stith was saying as she flicked a ladybug like insect off her arm. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Anywhere really, but here works just fine," Tiryso said as he rested his back against a tree, taking a moment to scratch it against the bark like a bear. He gestured to an area behind a nearby. "You could use that."

Stith's eyes grew to the size of tennis balls. "Here?"

"Or anywhere other than my foot," he said in jest.

"You don't have a potty?"

"Not in the sense that you are used to having," he said. "We go out here like nature intended. It helps the soil and the plants."

"So? Everyone will see me!" she said in protest

"Who?" Tiryso asked, looking around in all directions to prove his point. There was not a soul anywhere that could see.

Stith looked around as well, not seeing anyone. She muttered something to herself, and then as she quickly snapped her head in his direction said: "You would!"

He groaned. "Stith, just go. I'm not watching you."

"People could be camping and could watch me," she then said.

"Not here. Humans are a long way from where we are."

"Then the animals might see me."

"Stith!" he said almost angrily. "Just go, or hold it. It's up to you." He suddenly reached up to brush over his tiny ears as he felt a tick-like animal crawling on them. "The animals could care less. They go out here too."

Stith groaned, picking up a stick and tossing it at him in frustration. She missed wide right. "Don't watch me!"

"I'm not I said."

"Promise?"

"Yes, I promise," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest. He looked away and closed his eyes, despite being afraid to do so. He worried that Stith might try to escape when he was not looking. "I'm not looking. You can go now."

About a minute later Tiryso felt a claw tapping on his arm. His green-blue eyes opened to see Stith staring up at him.

"I'm done," Stith mused, her eyes not betraying her embarrassment at the situation. She then groaned. "I had nothing to wipe with." Her eyes narrowed as her soft beak wrinkled in a pout.

Tiryso's ears blushed. "Stith, we already have some things for you to wear that are being made, and you'll get a few extra cloths that you can use for that if you wish. They should be done very soon."

"So I have to walk around all nasty?" Stith's tail angrily swayed back and forth.

"Do you really feel that way?" he asked.

"Yes! Why is everything here so stupid?!." Stith said with a tight scowl. She shifted her weight from side to side, causing the thick floor of leaves to crinkle under her feet.

"I'm sorry, Stith. How about we go bathe and you can clean yourself then? When you are done your new clothes should be finished."

Stith sighed as she began to dread where this was most likely going. "Whatever."

"Alright then," he said, realizing that that was probably the most positive response that he would get from her. "Now, I don't think it's safe to take you to the main area of the lake--"

Stith interrupted with a groan. "We bathe in a lake? Why can't you just be normal?" Tiryso's abdomen was soon introduced to Stith's fist as she vented her frustration. The meeting did not last too long, however. She yelped, rubbing her aching hand. She had not expected his belly to be so firm; Nodyr's had been much softer.

"Yes we do, and it works just fine. Just pretend it's a really big bathtub. Don't worry, it's fresh water." He looked down at Stith, who was busy licking her injured fingers. "You aren't going to hit me again, are you?"

"No," she whimpered. Stith was beginning to learn that she was not going to be able to get her way with this mantrin, and it was beginning to bother her. She felt that she had little say in the matter, had he wished for her to do something or go somewhere. She wanted to hurt him badly for not taking her back to Nodyr right then, and she especially wanted to hurt this other mantrin that had killed her adoptive mother. This new feeling frightened her. She wanted to tell someone, someone that could comfort her, though she had no one that she could trust, not even Myolu. He was the enemy too as far as she was concerned.

"Don't worry, though," he said. I know of a special spot that we can use. Few know about it so you'll be safe. I don't feel comfortable bringing you around everyone yet. You might get a really hard time from most here if they know you're from the city."

"Then don't tell them," she said.

"Well it won't be that easy. You won't be recognized, and since you're not a newborn, it'll be rather obvious. It's best to stay hidden for now."

"Then just take me home"

"That won't be so easy, but we're working on it," he said. He was growing rather annoyed with her consistent questioning of everything he said. Even at such a young age he could tell that she had a good mind. He was sure that if she were to stay, that she would be living in his hall one day as one of the _ghishvehts_, who were those that did all of the important jobs in the community and lived in their own private building. "Stith, you're small, you're almost helpless, and you grew up over privileged because of the technology the humans have." _Let's see what she thinks about that_, he thought, beginning to enjoy her questioning.

"What's privileged?"

"You're spoiled."

Stith's eyes saddened. "I am not," she said, immediately humbled. Again, she was realizing how little say she had. She did not know what else to say.

"Yes, you are," he said matter-of-factly. We don't have ovens, we don't have refrigerators, we don't have electricity, and we don't have plumbing. These things may be convenient, but they aren't natural. They're not good for you in the long run."

"Well why not?" she asked, her tail swishing irritably.

"Because Stith, to make all of these things work, it harms the planet. And if you destroy it we don't get another one. This is all we have, so we need to protect it."

"I don't care," she said.

Tiryso sighed. "Well I'm sorry you feel that way," he said. "Stith, whether you care or not, there are other reasons why you need to respect this planet, which you clearly are not aware of."

"Okay whatever," she said, showing as much interest as she would if Tiryso had began talking about algebra equations. "I thought I was having to get a bath."

"Yes," he said, trailing off as he pondered her feelings about this. It bothered him, but he had grown used to these attitudes from those in the city. No one wanted to give up the precious conveniences. Not waiting any longer for an answer, he took her hand and led her deeper into the wooded area. They pushed their way through the dense foliage. The canopy eventually grew so thick that it seemed as though the vines and tree limbs were going to snatch Stith up at any moment, and then take her into the above darkness. She almost wished that it would happen.

It only took about another minute to get through the forest. Both Stith and Tiryso shielded their eyes momentarily as the painfully bright sun cut through the canopy of the wooded area. Soft grass crumpled under Stith's feet as she took a few timid steps into sunlight. The ground before them cascaded downward, the grass slowly fading into rock until it met a small lake, which on the other side was overlooked by another forested area on top of a short, grey cliff. A _fisht _bird fluttered overhead, then quickly pursued a rustling deep in the trees past the lake.

The day was no different from the others that time of year in that it was very hot. As they stepped out of the shade of the forest, Stith finally became aware of this. Sweat ran down her cheeks, and she did her best to wipe it out of her eyes with her forearm. Fortunately her large eye ridges helped to guide most of the sweat away from her eyes.

Tiryso nudged her and laughed. "I think you'll be glad to wear these when you get them," he said, pointing at his cloth wrappings. "They're cool and help keep your skin from burning."

"I'm not wearing that," she grumbled.

"As long as you are here you'll have to," he said. He then nudged her toward the lake. "Go ahead and get your bath."

Stith scampered toward the lake. "You can't tell me what to do," she muttered.

"Well I am your guardian until we find your _erseh_," he said. "Unless you want me to tell Lupit about how much you've misbehaved, and then you'll really be in trouble. He might send you to Kiryee's _ahmo_ to be punished, and she can do some really nasty things to you. She might cut off your ears, or worse." Tiryso knew that this would never happen of course, but he also knew that sometimes children had to be frightened a bit to get them to behave. To him this appeared to be the whole reason behind many of the humans' religions. Get them when they are too young to think for themselves, and you have obedience for life. He felt that his own religion was far more honest.

"Oh." Stith sadly looked at the ground. She heaved out a long sigh as her hopes quickly diminished. She continuously ran the scenario over in her head where she escaped, made her way home, and as she stepped through the door, Nodyr was waiting for her with loving arms. He would pick her up and lick her cheek, then take her into the kitchen for some food. Then, as the night passed, he would hold her in his lap and Sarah would still be alive. She would return from work and hug the two while smiling her sweet smile. Then, after a warm bath, they would tuck her into bed and kiss her goodnight. Sarah would pat her on the head and hand her her teddy bear to snuggle with, as she would slip away into a peaceful dream. Sarah would turn her little light off as she left, and leave the hall light on so that Stith would feel safe.

Tears were already welling up in Stith's eyes as everything came back to her. She thought of the little finger painting hanging on her wall that she had so joyously made. She remembered how she had splattered paint all over the walls and over Nodyr's face. She thought of the smells of home: how Nodyr always seemed to smell like whatever he had recently prepared, that calming smell of clean clothes that always drifted from the laundry room, that dusty smell of old books in garage, the delightful smell of herbs and bread in their pantry, the shampoo that floated in the air every time Sarah finished her shower. She though of the small hole that she had kicked into the wall of the family room (the couch was then moved to its present spot to cover it) during a senseless tantrum. They were so mad at her. At that moment, though, she would have given anything if they _could_ be mad at her, because then she would be with them. Stith's thoughts stopped along with her steps. She sat down in the grass and painfully wept.

"Stith, we aren't going to kill you. Don't take it so hard," Tiryso said, clueless as to the real source of her sadness.

"I want to go home. Why can't I go home?" Her words were almost unintelligible as she sobbed. "I want _ahmo_ and I want _erseh_."

Tiryso sighed, reached down to rub Stith's shoulder. She did not calm down, but he continued to rub lightly. It gave him comfort knowing that he was at least trying to make her feel better. "Stith, I understand you're upset, but--"

"Don't talk to me. I hate you," Stith said, shoving his hand off of her.

"As you wish," he said, his heart weary. He sighed as a gentle breeze blew across hill, carrying a light mist off of the lake that washed over the two mantrins. It was rather cool, despite the sweltering heat and choking humidity. Tiryso was not sure whether saw was sweat or more tears running down Stith's cheek. He thought it was both, but he did not ask her to find out.

The grass rustling in the breeze caught his attention. He looked down and broke off a piece, holding it between two fingers. After blindly staring at it for a few minutes he tossed it aside, and looked back toward Stith. she was busy ignoring him, tapping a claw on her top right knee. _Such venom_, he thought. _I would hate to think what she would do around Lyr right now_, _if he's even alive anymore_. He had to give it time and let her speak when she was ready.

Stith winced as a bead of sweat finally ran into her eye. She hastily wiped it with her knuckle to try to relieve the stinging. She was beginning to feel very sticky from the humidity, and she fidgeted and whined in her discomfort. The lake was beginning to look very inviting. Stith considered refusing the bath for a minute; she instinctively wanted to look strong, and defiance was her only option since she could not physically hurt anyone. However, the heat was becoming too much and eventually she gave in, succumbing to the sanctuary of the lake.

"I'll have my bath now," Stith said quietly.

"That sounds like a good plan then." He stood up along with Stith and they paced down the hill to the inviting water.

As Stith neared the water, a surprising amount of courage overcame her. "Turn around!" she ordered. Tiryso obliged and turned his back as Stith undressed herself quickly. After kicking her clothes onto the grass she lowered herself enough to be able to put her hand in the lake, just to test out the water. It was surprisingly warm. Without looking back Stith asked, "Are there any animals in here?"

"Other than you and maybe some fish, no," he said, still with his back turned.

"Good." Stith lowered herself into the lake until only her head was visible, and peacefully hummed as the water washed over her body, protecting her from the searing heat. "You can look now."

"Alright," he said in his soft voice. As he spoke he began to unravel his wrappings, letting them fall to the ground. Glancing over his shoulder to see her shock, he laughed. "I'm not getting in near you, if that's what you are worried about."

"Y-Y-Y-You," she stuttered. "You-you're naked!" Her ears blushed a rich crimson, much like Nodyr's had always done, as she caught the series of dark brown spots along his rump that were a sign of maturity in male Gouregs. Before he had had a chance to turn around, she had already done so, looking in any direction but his.

He was not embarrassed in the least. "Relax, Stith." He tapped his thigh. "It's just skin, just like on my tail, my arms, my hands, and my face. There is nothing different about it." He walked toward the lake, stopped about fifteen feet away from Stith, and quickly rested near the bank, although Stith swam a further away from him. He then submerged himself totally for a few moments, and upon resurfacing brushed his ears back along the back of his head, his eyes pinched tightly shut before he quickly wiped the water out of them. "Much better," he purred.

"I don't want to see your _orwi_! That's gross!" she said, slapping the water.

Tiryso chuckled. "Ah Stith, but you can't right now, can you? It's amazing what the human culture can do to someone's vanity."

Stith was simply floating, not fully understanding what he meant. She did not ask either as she felt that whatever he had to say was unimportant, unless of course it meant taking her back to her father. Instead, she asked him a more relevant question. "You don't have soap, do you?" she asked, quite sure of the answer already.

"No we don't," Tiryso said as he sloshed around in the lake with much grace. "And my washcloth tore yesterday, so they're making another one for me. I should have it tomorrow. You'll get one too with your new clothes."

"Oh," she said. Stith immersed herself as Tiryso had done, but not for as long, and when she bobbed back to the surface she was sputtering and coughing.

"Are you okay?" he asked, having already finished and was allowing himself to soak in the refreshing water.

"I guess," Stith sputtered after coughing up a small amount of water.

"You'll get used to it," Tiryso said, who was now floating on his back. "Now, tell me you aren't glad you got in the water." Stith remained silent, simply bobbing, almost like a lifeless cork. "That's what I thought," he said, and allowed his legs to drop beneath him as he submerged himself once more.

After about ten minutes of enjoying the water, Tiryso eased his sleek, muscular form back onto the grass as his wet skin glistened in the sunlight. He stood up as high as he comfortably could, which brought him near seven and a half feet, and with a smile on his face, inhaled deeply into his lungs. His chest expanded greatly as he did so. Then, he sat down on the grass and generously stretched his leg muscles before lying onto his back. His tail lay out in front of him. He yawned and flexed his toes as he enjoyed the sun's warmth. It was then that he heard another groan from Stith.

"Put some clothes on!" she demanded, groaning.

"Stith, this doesn't need to bother you. I'm not ashamed of myself, and you shouldn't be either," he said. "It's okay."

"You're gross." She was still floating in the water with a scowl on her face. Stith irritably splashed at a mosquito like insect that was swarming around her ear. "If it's okay, then why do you wear whatever those things are."

"It's to help protect our skin from the sun, as I told you," he said. "And we call the wrappings _poetyo_."

"Oh."

"That's right. Stith, why don't you hop out and enjoy the sun while you can? It feels really good, and it'll dry you off."

"You don't have towels either?!" Without even waiting for a response, Stith furiously punched the water. It sent a wave up onto the land that drenched Tiryso.

"Do you feel better now that I'm wet again?" he said with a laugh.

"Yes," she pouted.

"I'm glad you feel better."

"Well well," she muttered, not knowing what to say. "I still hate you!" she finally spat.

"You've told me plenty. Anyway, yes we do have towels, or at least something like them. I just choose not to use one unless I have to. The sun just feels so good on your skin."

Stith grunted. "I'm getting out. Close your eyes." Tiryso did as he was instructed as Stith climbed out of the lake. She felt so odd, being out in the open, completely nude, and alone with an almost perfect stranger who was also unclothed and completely comfortable with it. To her it seemed more than creepy.

Diverting her eyes, Stith stepped over Tiryso and kicked him as forcefully as she could, just under his ribs. He gasped as the breath was knocked out of him. Stith walked on rather pleased with herself until her conscience caught up with her. "I'm sorry I'm sorry! Are you okay? Don't be mad at me."

His eyes were still closed as he spoke. "Don't be sorry Stith. And yes I'm ok. I'm felt much worse."

"Oh." Still embarrassed, Stith rested in the grass a few yards away from him. She grabbed her swimsuit and quickly applied it, doing a much better job than the previous day. "You can open your eyes now," she said.

He did so, but did not speak.

Stith was busy watching another insect fly around in a circle overhead. She yawned and came close to falling asleep. He was right; the sun _did_ feel good against her skin, though she was not about to give him the satisfaction of being right.

After a little while longer, Tiryso finally spoke. "Are you ready to go back?" he asked.

ooo

They returned incognito, much the same as they had left earlier. Once back into the hall, Tiryso quickly ducked into his room with her, nearly smashing his leg on the wall in his haste. He took a few steps toward his bed so that he could sit, and then noticed a pile of the wrappings on top of it.

"Well look Stith," he said. "They're done already!"

"What is?" she asked.

"Your _poetyo_," he responded happily. "Now let's get you in the wrapping and see how it looks." He looked down his muzzle at Stith, who was staring back up at him with a look on her face that was a cross between bewilderment and anger. Her tail was madly swishing from side to side.

"No!" she said.

"No?" Tiryso blinked, raising an eye ridge. "No what?"

"I'm not wearing these stupid things." Stith kicked the long, wide strips of cloth off of his bed, sending them to the floor.

After what they'd already been through so far, Tiryso was not surprised in the least by her defiance. Not only had she just been stripped from her parents, but everything that Stith was having to do was so new and foreign compared to her normal way of life. He did not blame her for how she was acting; Tiryso had had a little bit of trouble adjusting has well, however it had been easier for him because it was what he had wanted.

"That's what I thought," he said and sat down on his bed. A few blades of grass shot out from between the well-worn seams of the mattress and rocked like a cradle in the air as they fell to the ground. Tiryso sighed. "I'm sorry Stith, but you have to whether you like it or not. You can't run around in that swimsuit as long as you are here. I'm very surprised that Lupit didn't say anything to you about it."

"Why?" She tapped a toe claw on the wooden floor and then sat down, about two meters from Tiryso

Tiryso suddenly realized something as he looked at his far wall. "You have a bed of your own, you know. You can sit on that." He gestured with his beak to far wall. There was a smaller mattress there, identical to Tiryso's other than not being as worn. It was already made and ready for her to use. It had not been there when they left for the lake. Tiryso assumed that whoever had brought the _poetyo_ had also brought the bed.

She ignored him. "Why do I have to wear these stupid clothes?"

"I think I already told you," he said. "Human things aren't allowed here, and besides the best way to give away where you're from is to be wearing something from the city. You're going to have a very hard time if anyone else finds out."

Stith grunted and crossed her arms. "Who says?"

"Lupit does, as I've told you. He's our _abwot_, and if we wanted human things around, then we'd be living with them, wouldn't we?"

Stith decided not to respond, having sensed a long speech coming if she persisted. "Then I hate Lupit too," she pouted.

He lightly chuckled. "Lupit, too? I see you still hate me, then."

"Yes. I hate you. I hate you and I don't want to be here and I don't want to pee in your stupid woods and take a bath in your stupid lake and wear your stupid clothes and I want _ahmo_ and _erseh_ and--"

"As you've said," Tiryso interrupted before she hyperventilated, and lying down on his side. His long legs draped over the edge of the bed. "Look, Stith. I don't expect you to like me, nor anyone else here, but could you at least cooperate with me? It will make everything much less stressful."

"No," she said bluntly.

Tiryso sighed again. He rubbed his temple and the sides of his face, his slate colored skin stretching slightly as he did so. "Okay, Stith. I'm not about to fight you. I'm going to go get Kiryee, if she's still in her room. Now stay here."

Stith wrinkled her muzzle. "What if I don't? Huh?"

Tiryso paused. Finally she had found solid ground for an argument. He needed something quick to scare her, or at least make her think enough. "Eleisyn might have you whipped or killed," he said as sincerely as he could. What bothered him the most about what he said was that it was likely not too far from the truth. Everyone knew that Eleisyn could be sadistic; it was no wonder that she was in charge of punishment.

"No she won't!" Stith shot back, although a little wary. She did not believe him, although she did not wish to take any risks either. She reluctantly obeyed and stayed in the room, watching as Tiryso brushed through the curtain and disappeared into the hallway.

ooo

Tiryso took in a deep breath as he stood in front of Kiryee's room, her curtain down and secured. He sighed and brought a hand up to touch it, although he refrained from rustling at that moment; instead, he listened. It was perfectly quiet and he wondered if she was asleep. Kiryee tended to not be cooperative for favors of any kind, regardless of size, and especially if they involved her sleep being disturbed. However this was justified as she was so busy that she rarely had time to get adequate sleep.

His tiny ears caught the faint sound of light breathing. Then came a rustle of the grass filled mattress, followed by the sound of feet hitting the floor. He heard something clatter, followed by the rustling of the grass again, and finally the sound of cloth being scraped and scratched.

"_Jhii_," came her voice, which was muffled by the thick curtain.

Fortunately for Tiryso this told him that she was awake. Unfortunately, she was angry. He grasped a fold in her curtain and shook it slightly. "Kiryee?"

"Ack! If you dare come in I'll make you eat your tail," she barked.

He grimaced a little at her threat. She tended to make big threats like her mother did, although unlike her, she rarely went through with them. He heard her grumbling further but he could not hear what she was saying, and assumed that it was complaining about being disturbed. "Did I come at a bad time?" he asked.

"_Yes_, you came at a bad time!"

"My apologies," he said. There was silence for a minute or so before he heard her step to the curtain, and open it, poking her young face through it. "Yeeeees?" she said, show her teeth, and coating her word with more sugar than a children's cereal.

"I need your help."

"With--?"

"Stith."

"Oh." Kiryee's mood instantly shifted. She nodded quietly and pushed the curtain aside to step out of the room with Tiryso yielding to her. She left the curtain closed, a habit she had gotten into since she had matured. It annoyed Tiryso, but he still kept quiet. "I thought you used to be an _erseh_," she teased, giving him a playful shove.

Tiryso grunted, keeping his footing. "I'm out of practice I guess." He shrugged meekly.

Kiryee nodded again and adjusted her _poetyo, _which had been crudely applied as she had been in a hurry to get out of bed. "What's wrong?" Her voice had shifted to a soft, almost maternal voice that Tiryso found rather pleasant.

"The _poetyo._ I haven't been arguing with her about it for very long, but I feel like after all the stuff I only barely got her to do, there's no way I'm getting this done. And, since you are female--"

"--you think she'd submit more easily." Kiryee smiled slightly. "Yes, I know. I'm better than you. You males just can't do anything without our help, can you?"

Tiryso blushed as he humored her. "That's right. We're just weak and helpless."

"Little weakling," she teased and laughed, and then reached up to lightly bat one of his small ears. "So where is the sweet little girl hiding?" she said with a smile.

ooo

Stith had not left her spot on the floor, being too tired and frustrated. Not having to be bothered by anyone, she had at least relaxed somewhat. The relaxation did not last too long though, as Tiryso had returned only five or so minutes after he had left. He did not actually step into the room, however. The Sogowan female that she had seen once before stepped inside, with Tiryso in the doorframe behind her. The female smirked, looking down at Stith for a few moments as she crossed her arms over her chest, and looked over her shoulder at Tiryso. She gave him a knowing nod, and stepped closer to Stith although she kept a healthy few feet between them.

"I'm sure you remember Kiryee," Tiryso said, patting one of her shoulders.

"Hi, Stith," Kiryee said, her voice soft and sweet.

Tiryso took a silent step forward and brought the tip of his beak to Kiryee's ear. "This is going to be tougher than you probably think it is," he whispered.

"Nah," Kiryee said, not dropping her voice to his level. "What are you whispering for, anyway? Shoo!" She waved her hands dismissively as Tiryso nodded, reluctantly stepping out of the room again Stith could hear his footsteps down the hall, slowly fading until the two still in the room were left in an awkward silence that persisted for what could have been several minutes.

"Are you ready to put on your new clothes?" Kiryee said quickly, her voice bouncy and cheerful as she broke the silence. She walked over to the messy pile on the floor, squatted and held one of the strips in her hands. "It's called _poetyo._"

Not looking up, she snorted. "I know and I don't care. I'm not wearing them."

Kiryee looked hurt, her ears drooping. "Aww. Why not, Stith? You have to, you know," she said. Her voice remained as sweet as ever.

"Because I'm wearing _my_ clothes!" Stith spat, scooting away from Kiryee and crossing her arms. Her tail thumped on the wood of the floor angrily.

"I'm glad you like them that much, but you can't wear them forever. And I know what you are about to say, and the answer is, because I said so."

"I don't have to listen to you," Stith grumbled.

Yes, you do because I know what's best for you," she said, drawing in a deep breath. "And keeping those human clothes isn't best."

"But I like them! They're better than _your_ stupid things!" Stith's tail beat the floor more soundly. "I don't have to listen to you. You're not my _ahmo_."

"You know, Stith," Kiryee said, pulling one of the large floor-pillows underneath her and kneeling on it, "Eventually, someone's going to take them away. It may not be me, it may not be Tiryso, but it will be someone. Probably that grumpy old Lupit." She paused. "And if that doesn't happen, when you grow up, one day they won't fit you anymore. And then you'll have to stop wearing them, and if you don't learn to wear your _poetyo_ then you'll have nothing to wear at all. You don't want that, do you?"

"I don't care! want to keep them!" Stith sobbed a little, her tail stopping its pounding of the floor. "_Ahmo _gave them to me!"

Kiryee sighed, reached behind her head to scratch the base of one of her ears. "Believe it or not, Stith, I was little just like you once. And there were a lot of things that I didn't want to do, but I had to anyway. There are some things you just can't control, and this is one of them. You need to give me your clothes before you get in trouble."

"But _ahmo_ gave them to me," Stith told the floor quietly, her ears lowered. "And _ahmo_'s gone."

Kiryee sighed again, adjusting herself so that her legs rested on the floor in front of her and her rump was on the pillow. "I know, Stith, and I'm sorry. I don't know what to tell you." Stith sniffed a little, and another silence fell over them as Kiryee thought about what to do next. "Yes I do," she said after a few minutes. Stith did not look at her. "If you be a good girl and get dressed, you can keep them. You just have to hide them so Lupit can't see them. If you keep disobeying me, I'll take them away and have them burned like he wanted me to do. I don't want to, Stith, but if you make me then I will. How's that?" She did not really want them there, but she could not bear to see Stith so upset.

Stith thought about this, her ears twitching a little. "I guess," she said with a sigh, sniffing. She decided that it was better to cooperate for now. At least she knew that she would not have to wear these things for long.

Kiryee's mood lifted. "Okay," she said and took one of the strips into her hands. "Now, let me start by telling you what order these go--"

"I can do it myself, "Stith said, snorting as she got up and snatched the cloth out of Kiryee's lap, and then went back to where she was. She started sorting out the cloths herself, unfolding them.

"No, you can't," Kiryee said, although she stayed where she was. "It's not that hard, but it's confusing if someone doesn't help you the first time or two. It took me several tries to get it right when I was little."

Stith ignored her, and proceeded to start wrapping one of the cloths around her waist incorrectly. After a few turns, she paused and looked over at Kiryee for the first time. This was much harder than putting on her swimsuit. "This stupid things don't work I" The corners of her beak etched downward into a frown.

"Well not like that," she said. "You need to slip off the human outfit."

"But," she said, trailing off. "Do I have to?" she asked pleadingly in hopes of a different way to go about it.

"Yes you do," she said. "There's nothing to worry about Stith. I'm a girl, just like you. It's nothing new to me. Remember, I said that you had to behave or else those human things were going to go away."

Stith sniffed and nodded, pausing. Another silence, this one short. "Fine," she said.

"Okay, Stith. There are three ways we can do this. I can either dress you myself--"

"No!"

"Okay, okay! I won't do that. Let me finish!" Stith remained silent. "_Myrsya_. There are three ways we can do this. I can dress you myself, tell you what to do and watch to make sure you do it right, or I can undress and redress with you repeating what I do. Which will it be?"

Stith kept silent, unsure of what to do. Either way she went she would have to be naked.

Kiryee considered. "Okay. How about I choose for you? I can undress, and you can watch me. That way, I'll be undressed just like you and it'll be fair."

Stith fidgeted. She still was not sure. There was a long silence before she spoke again. "I guess," she murmured, sadly looking down at the floor. "I don't want to do this.".

"Well. " Kiryee took a deep breath. "Here we go," she said, bringing herself to her feet. "Go ahead and get that thing off, and I'll help you."

Stith slowly folded the cloth strip in her hands after removing it from her waist. Her movements were slow; she was trying to take as much time as she could in order to stall. However, the most good this did was make her more nervous, an ear twitching slightly as she folded more and more slowly, until she was barely moving.

It took her a good three minutes to fold the single cloth, and Kiryee did not try to hurry her. She knew that Stith was nervous, and she did not want to make that any worse. It would get them nowhere, and chances are the only thing it would have contributed to was the mental distance between Stith, Tiryso, and herself. The slowness of her motions were, however, starting to become irritating as Stith slowly crept over to Kiryee, and carefully bent over to lay the neatly folded cloth on the top of the pile she had tipped over earlier.

Then, in a further effort to stall, she took the time to neaten up the pile, and just before she started to pick up a strip that she had knocked over in order to refold it, Kiryee held up a hand. She spoke softly. "It's alright, dear. Do you want me to turn around?"

Stith opened her mouth slightly to speak, when Kiryee acted. She rose to her feet quickly, and turned her back to Stith, at the same time reaching behind herself to pull the end pieces of the cloth wrapped around her waist out of where they were tucked. It was a bit easier than it should have been, since she had applied it so hastily.

Turning to face away from Kiryee, Stith's ears sagged until they were almost horizontal. "I don't want to do this," she said again. If Kiryee had been Sarah, Stith would have been fine. She was so uncomfortable that she wanted to cry, though losing her only physical memory of her family would have been far worse. Finally, a snap was heard as she undid her shoulder straps and let the suit fall to the floor.

Kiryee apparently heard this, for she spoke as though the sound of it was a cue. "Can I turn around now?"

Stith fidgeted and shivered, hugging herself slightly. Her ears flushed and folded flat against the back of her head. "Yeah," she said quietly. Embarrassed, she covered her groin with both of her hands as Kiryee turned back towards her. She began to think of what she had done to Nodyr, and wondered if this was her punishment for it. Once Kiryee had turned around completely, Stith turned to the side.

Kiryee spoke again, her voice still soft. "It's okay, Stith. You won't be like that for long." These things go on very fast once you get used to it," she said, and Stith felt Kiryee's hand touch her shoulder. It was gentle, an attempt at reassuring, although it did little good. "Of course it's going to be a little slow the first time, since it's so new, but even then you will only be exposed for a few seconds because the strips are so wide.

"I promise you I won't look." She gently squeezed Stith's shoulder, and seeing that what she was saying had no affect other than making Stith more nervous, she tried something else. "You know, I'm like a big you," she said. "I bet you will look a lot like I do when you grow up."

Stith swallowed, and finally answered Kiryee. Her voice was barely audible. "You're not me," she whimpered.

"No," Kiryee said. She took in a deep breath, her voice softer still. "But I'm a girl, just like you. Your body will grow to be a lot like mine, you'll get bigger just like I did, and I can already tell how beautiful you're going to be." She squeezed Stith's shoulder again, and Stith thought she saw Kiryee smile from the corner of her eye. "Come on, now. I don't want to put you through this any more than you want to go through it, but the more time you spend trying to put it off the worse it'll be when we actually go through with it. Understand?"

Stith nodded slowly, swallowing again. Her ears turned darker still, almost to the color of garnet. The young mantrin whimpered sadly.

"Okay. Now, I'm going to be a little nicer. You don't have to face me for this, but you do need to watch." She gently touched one of her clawed fingers to Stith's chin, carefully turning it to face her. Stith's eyes met Kiryee's, the eyes sparkling slightly. There was no hostility in the eyes whatsoever, and this was enhanced by the sweet, motherly smile Kiryee wore beneath them. "That's right," she said, and pivoted around enough to grasp one of the cloths. "The rule is simple, here. The longest cloth goes on your waist, the middle goes on your torso, and the smallest one goes on your head. So, biggest, middle, smallest," she said, gesturing to the respective parts of her body. She pushed the pile of strips over to Stith after returning the one in her hands to the pile. Stith hesitated before she took up the longest of the cloths in her hands, peering down at it.

"No, Stith. You have to watch." Stith felt her chin being tilted up again by the same finger, and she was greeted by the soft eyes again. Then Kiryee stood up fully, and picked up the cloth she had removed from her own waist. "This is a very simple procedure, but it's easy to get lost."

Stith nodded unenthusiastically as Kiryee draped the cloth over her backside, the ends of the cloth resting over the top of her legs where they met the hips. She turned slightly, allowing Stith a small view of the back, showing that it was draped over the base of her tail. Stith did the same, although slowly.

"Now, it'll work if they aren't exactly even, but you need to try to make the ends as even as possible." Kiryee didn't bother with hers, as they were already very even. "Now," she said and crossed the ends over her hips, "make sure you don't get them twisted." She placed the cloth flatly against her groin, and the ends were pulled snug from the back once their ends had reached the leg opposite the one they started on. "Now we just repeat. The cloths cross again in the back, this time going to the top of your legs again." She did this, turning to the side some more. "The cross must be under your tail or else it won't fit well enough to stay on." She repeated the front cross. "And you simply repeat this a few more times, each time alternating the cross in the back between the top of your tail and below it until you have two layers underneath. Any more and you're going to feel really uncomfortable back there.

Silence. "Well? Are you, Stith?" She looked over at Stith, who was too busy staring down at the cloth to realize that Kiryee was speaking to her. It took a tap on the head for Kiryee to gain Stith's attention again. "Is it okay for you to turn around now?"

Stith continued to look down at the cloth, nodding. Kiryee nodded as well, and faced Stith fully. "Okay, dear. You need to turn to me now, so I can make sure you're doing this right."

Her ears blushing furiously, Stith slowly turned to face Kiryee. Her head remained turned to the side, her eyes closed as though the situation would go away if she could not see it.

"Yes, very good," Kiryee said. She pulled the wrapping on her own hips so that it was snug. "Now just pull it tight and keep going," she said, wrapping two or three more turns until about a few feet were left on either side. "Until you have about this much left." Then she wrapped that around her waist a few times to secure the wrapping, and tucked the ends into the back. "And that's it." Stith was following, but very slowly.

Once Stith was done, Kiryee was smiling widely. "Good. Very good. It may take a few tries before you remember, but you'll get used to it. What do you think?"

Stith shifted her weight from leg to leg as her ears returned to their normal color. "It feels like a diaper," she said. Stith had lost some of her nervousness as her hips were completely covered, so she spoke more relaxed and at her normal volume.

Kiryee's ears twitched. "Oh. Um. ." She paused. "What's a diaper?"

"Babies wear them and they potty in them until they're big and can go in a bathroom."

"Oh." Kiryee shrugged. "I think it's comfortable. Now, this diaper thing, we do something like it. It's more like a square cloth that we put under the child's rump before we put on their bottom _poetyo_ than an actual garment. The child wears it until they learn to control it long enough to get wherever the community or family does that." She smiled.

"That's stupid."

Kiryee teased her, grinning. "That's a lot like what you said, so you must be stupid too."

Silence.

Kiryee thought for a moment. "You know, Stith, you're wearing what you'd be wearing if the humans weren't here. If they came to Solbrecht today, and tried to get you to wear their clothes, you'd think that they were stupid."

Stith was still silent.

"Okay, then. Now, the top will be much easier, right?"

"I guess." Stith's voice was softer again as her nervousness returned. It was at this moment that Stith became aware of a large scar on Kiryee's back, near her tail. It was long and twisted at an odd angle, resembling a twig. For now, she decided not to ask about it from fear of upsetting her.

"That's what I thought," she said. "Now, let me show you how to do the rest."

The remainder of the lesson went much more smoothly. Stith remained uncomfortable, but getting the other parts of the _poetyo_ was less embarrassing for her. She still found it very awkward, but did her best so that she could get it over with. For now she had no plans of actually wearing this for much longer.

As the lesson wrapped up Kiryee had finally managed to get the chest _poetyo_ on Stith. "Again, we adjust so that the loose ends are in the back, twist them together and tuck up under the rest of the layers," she said, smiling. "And that's that. Do you think that you can do it on your own now?"

Stith slowly nodded. "I guess so," she said, eyes back to the floor.

"Well, that's good. I was afraid that this would take longer. You're a good girl, Stith. Smart too.

_Myrsya_." Stith ignored her and reached up to scratch a slight tickling at the base of one of her ears. This reminded Kiryee of one last piece. "Uh oh. Stith, I forgot something."

"What?" Her ears drooped. "Do I have to get naked again?"

Kiryee chuckled. "Oh no, dear, you don't. That part is over."

"Then what do I have to do?" Stith asked.

Kiryee scanned the room, looking for the item in question. Her tail twitched at the tip. "Hmmm, it looks like nothing, right now. I see they've forgotten your ear _poetyo_."

"Why do I need that?"

"To protect your ears from the sun, of course. You don't want them to burn do you? That would hurt." Seeing Stith start to whimper, Kiryee added, "But you only have to wear them during the day, when you're outside, this time of year. That's the only time the sun is bad enough to warrant wearing it." Stith was still whimpering. "What's wrong now, Stith? Come on, you don't have to get naked to put them on."

"No." Stith sniffled as her eyes watered slightly. "It's _ahmo. _She put lotion on my ears for that. Now she's dead and she can't!" Stith slumped back to the floor and buried her face in her arms.

Kiryee sighed, put one of the floor pillows near Stith, and kneeled on it. "Come here," she said softly, leaning forward slightly with her arms outstretched. Stith whimpered a little, too saddened to resist as Kiryee scooped her into her arms and cradled her not too much unlike an infant, her legs and tail draping over one of Kiryee's thighs. Kiryee gingerly stroked a hand along the side of Stith's face and looked her in the eye, smiling softly. "I know you miss your ahmo but she's gone now. I don't want to sound mean, but there really isn't anything that can be done to fix it." She sighed again and gave Stith a light hug. Stith squirmed a little, trying to wiggle away, which Kiryee allowed her to do.

Stith was confused. Overcome with emotion, she rolled back into Kiryee's lap and buried her head into her chest, sobbing profusely. Afraid that she might scare Stith, she reluctantly hugged her again and lightly began to pet her head. Her maternal instincts were beginning to get to her. At the moment she wanted nothing other than to comfort this little girl. She wished that she could make things better, but knew that she could not. She could try, at least. "It's alright, Stith. Have a good cry. Let it all out," she murmured.

Stith sniffed again. "I wanna be with _ahmo_." Her words were muffled by Kiryee's chest.

"I know you do," Kiryee said as she continued to pet her. "But there's really nothing we can do. I'm sorry." Kiryee's eyes began to water as well. Stith's pathos was becoming too much for her to handle. Her sadness was interrupted when the curtain to the room was ruffled.

"How's it coming?" Tiryso asked, his voice muffled by the curtain.

"We're done," Kiryee said softly, "Although they left out a piece."

"They what?" Tiryso asked, annoyed.

"They left out her ear dress when they made her _poetyo_," she said, gently petting Stith's back.

Tiryso groaned. "Well isn't that just wonderful?" He sighed. "I guess whoever brought her wrappings forgot about it. I'll have to let Lupit know. Can I come in?"

Kiryee offered a small chuckle. "It's your room." She continued to gently pet Stith, whose tail was twitching slightly.

Tiryso brushed the curtain to the side and entered the room, his jaw hanging slack upon seeing the girl he had been fighting with curled up in Kiryee's arms. He had known Stith longer, had tried his hardest to get her to at least tolerate him, and she still would not let him touch her. "How did you do that?" he asked, his voice meek.

Kiryee gently squeezed Stith, grinning. "I'm female and you're not." She released Stith, who stayed in Kiryee's lap anyway. "You can't give her what she wants: an _ahmo_." A finger traced over Stith's beak. Stith was still purring.

Tiryso snorted in his frustration. "Show off," he teased, rubbing Kiryee's head roughly. Kiryee playfully snapped at him. He sat down next to her, on the floor. "So I can take the clothes, now?"

"No!!" Stith shrieked. She looked horrified, and rolled out of Kiryee's lap to grab the swimsuit, hugging it tightly.

"No," Kiryee repeated, softly. "That was part of how I got her into the _poetyo_. I told her that she could keep it as long as she was a good girl. Tiryso, remember, her caregiver gave those to her. And since that idiot Lyr went overboard and killed her, they're all she has to comfort her." There was a small pause. "So you have to help carry out my promise. It might even improve your relationship with her." With that, Kiryee brought herself to her feet and started back to her room. Before passing through the curtain, she stopped and jestingly added, "Tiryso. . .unless she's dying, don't wake me up anymore. Okay? I don't want to have to hurt you." Before he had a chance to respond, Kiryee's tail had already vanished through the curtain.

Once Kiryee was gone, Tiryso turned back towards Stith. He didn't like keeping secrets, nor did he particularly enjoy going against orders, but Kiryee was right. The least he could do was allow her to keep the human clothing. They both would be in trouble if Lupit discovered them, but that was _if_ he discovered. "Alright, Stith. You can keep them, but they have to stay hidden. Okay?" he asked, as friendly as possible.

"Okay." Stith hugged her old clothes tightly and sniffled.

He nodded. "You're a good girl, Stith. Yo--" his voice trailed off and he paused. He was about to mention how her parents must have really loved her to have raised her so well, but refrained. He knew that it would have only upset her further. Tiryso scratched the tip of his beak as tried to think of the best place to hide her clothes. "I know," he said and glanced to the back of the room. Stith followed his gaze to find a curtain, like the one that was currently sealing off the room from the hallway. She had noticed it earlier.

"We can put them back there, and get some food for you at the same time. Follow me."

Confused, Stith followed the large Goureg. After a few steps, she stopped. "I'm gonna wait here," she said, suddenly feeling a bit nervous about going into the room with him.

"Well alright," he said and continued past the curtain, returning a minute later with three small gourds, and two bowls. He set them on the floor, pulled one of the grass-filled pillows beneath him, and sat. He then poured some water from one of the gourds into one of the bowls. "Here you go, Stith. Here's some water. It's fresh. I collected it just this morning. You don't have to worry about it being dirty because it came from a source that humans haven't touched yet." Tiryso emptied some dried fruit from the second gourd into the other bowl. "Dried _oyt_ fruits. Be careful about the seeds," he said. "They can get stuck in your teeth. You can just spit them back into the bowl."

Stith reluctantly took a sip from the water, and then said: "What about my clothes?"

"I was going to help you hid the suit, that was until you refused to follow me. If you won't go back there, how can I show you where I put them?"

Stith grunted. "Okay." She got up, stepped over the bowls to the curtain, then stopped again and looked at Tiryso. "You go first."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

Tiryso raised an eye ridge, then nodded and stepped past Stith. He brushed the curtain aside, releasing the mixed scent of various fruits and meats into the room. He looked back at her just before he entered.

Stith followed, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the darkness. The room was about a quarter size of the main room. There were two shelves that spanned the entire lengths of all three of the walls. Each one was lined with round, gourd-like containers of various sizes. The tops of each gourd had been cut to allow for a lid on each, as well as to use for storage. Each lid was coated with a waxy substance to help seal the gourd. The sides of each gourd had various symbols scratched into it, all arranged in spirals in the traditional manner of Preidogian writing.

There were no skylights, but the light from the skylights in the main room provided sufficient lighting. There was also a sliver of line coming in from the other side of the storage room; Stith assumed it led outside. The roof had a sharp slant toward the back. Underneath the ceiling, against the back wall, was a stone structure shaped like an upside down triangle, which also tapered toward the wall at the bottom. There was a small hole in the bottom, and an open gourd immediately beneath it.

"What's that for?" Stith asked, pointing to it.

"That's to collect rain water. The rain flows down all those slopes and into the gourd. You'd be surprised how fast it fills."

"What about the lake?"

"Stith, we bathe in that lake. You know that. We can't guarantee that the water is clean, and we might get sick if we get it from the lake. Every occupied room has one of these. It also helps in case we get sick and it's not safe to leave to go through the woods and go to the lake. There's a river near the lake that we can use at times, but this gutter makes water easier to collect."

"Oh," was all Stith could say.

"It's all quite delicious," Tiryso said, grinning. "What we're going to do is simply take one of these gourds and rinse it out until it's freshly clean. We'll dry it too, and we can put your clothes in there. Then we'll seal up the gourd, and your suit should stay protected for a very long time.

"How?"

Tiryso drew a finger over one of the gourds, collecting some of the waxy substance off of it to show her. "See this?" After Stith nodded, he put it back into the hole and rubbed it back in place. "It's called _ayaat_. It melts very easily. All we have to do is heat it a little over a fire and it'll be sealed tight. We could just give it a really heavy coat of the _ayaat_ and rub it on with our hands, but it's hard to make and the amount we'd need to seal it well with our hands is enormous. The fire melts it and it flows over the area to be sealed, filling in every little pore and crack."

Stith nodded once, and reached out a cautious hand to feel the substance. Her hand had only extended a few inches before she looked at Tiryso, then pulled her hand back warily. Tiryso sighed. He took one of the gourds off of a shelf, opened its lid, and then peeked into it. This gourd he held out to Stith. "Would you hold this?" he asked. Stith took the gourd into her arms; they easily went all the way around it.

While Tiryso checked inside each of the gourds that had originally surrounded the one in her arms, Stith had a peek into the gourd herself. She inhaled deeply. What she saw and smelled was not too unlike dried apricots. "You can try some, if you want," Tiryso said into another gourd. "Okay. This one's about half full." He took the gourd in Stith's arms, and set it on the floor. He proceeded to scoop out the fruits from the gourd that Stith held, and put them in the new one. He then closed it, and handed the now empty gourd back to Stith. "This is the one we'll use. I'll go clean it out, then when I come back I'll seal it."

"How?" she asked.

"With one of the torches, or a candle." He gestured to one of the torches that were suspended in the corners of the main room.

"Oh."

Just to be sure, Tiryso repeated himself. "Okay, now I'm going to put your suit in this gourd--" he motioned with his beak to the now empty one "--and then seal the gourd off with the _ayyat, _so that no one can ever find it and take it. But, first, I need to go wash this out so none of the fruit sugar can get on your suit and make it all sticky. It'll also keep bugs from trying to get in. Is that alright?"

Stith did not look very happy, but nodded anyway. "I guess."

"Good. I'm going to go wash this out now. Can I trust you to stay here, or do you want to come with me?"

"I'm staying." Stith considered escaping, but after remembering what she had heard about Eleisyn, she quickly rid herself of that idea. She did not believe what she had heard, but she did not wish to find out if it was true or not. Something much worse than a spanking may have happened.

"That's fine. Would you like Kiryee to keep you company while I'm gone?"

"No. She's stupid," she quickly said.

Tiryso laughed. "You think so? I wouldn't have known by the way you were cuddling up with her a minute ago."

"I didn't mean to!" Stith pouted.

"Oh, really? That's interesting. I'll have to talk to her about that. Maybe I can find out what her secret is." He smirked, and then drew in a deep breath. "Well Stith, you stay here and behave. I'm going to go wash this out. Feel free to eat any of the food that you'd like."

"Okay," she said, her voice still weighted down with sadness. Tiryso made as if to pat her on the head on his way out, but Stith ducked and growled at him. "Don't touch me," she hissed.

"Right. Sorry, Stith," he said defensively.

She did not have much time to answer. Tiryso was already on his way out before she spoke.


	7. No Return

**Chapter 7**

_No Return_

Later that evening, after the sun had long passed over the horizon, Tiryso stood with Stith outside of the _ghishveht_ hall. He firmly held her hand, although not tightly enough to either cause her to be uncomfortable, or to begin squirming. Earlier he had decided that perhaps a tour of the grounds would be in her best interest, and that doing it at night when there was minimal activity would be the best time to do it. This way he would not have to worry much about anyone growing suspicious of this new young mantrin.

Despite what he was telling her, Tiryso still had doubts that she would be able to leave, so this tour of _Wyr'Mo'Gwi_ would be in her best interest either way. At the very least it would give them something to do and something to talk about other than how much she hated him.

"Are you ready?" he asked Stith. He glanced over his muzzle at her in her bottom _poetyo_. He wore the same. Without the threat of the sun, no other part of the garment was necessary.

Stith really did not like her hand being held by someone other than her parents, but for now she put up with it. She sighed, actually bored by the thought of this little tour and finding it very dismal. Being home in bed snuggling her teddy bear, or causing a ruckus in the middle of the night sounded far more enjoyable. Slowly but surely she was beginning to long for Sarah's frustrated sighs. To her, Tiryso was oh so boring. "I guess." she mumbled, looking back up at him. "I still hate you."

"Sorry Stith," he said. It was not the first time he had said this to her, and most likely would not be the last. They began their walk, moving north of the hall. Several yards beyond this was another building. It was much smaller and resembled a stone cube with a crumbling doorway on one side. The dense network of trees around the building effectively blocked out any moonlight, and any thoughts that this was not a deserted, haunted house, were quickly squashed. Old, sticky cobwebs would have only enhanced its appearance.

"I suppose this was not the best place to start," he muttered as they paused in front of the building. "This is where mantrins that misbehave have to go. I hope for your sake that you never go into that room. The _ghishveht _in charge of punishment can be very cruel, even to little girls like you."

"_Erseh_ would beat him up if he tried." said Stith, rolling her eyes and sticking out her tongue.

"Beat her up," he corrected, and then tugging on her hand, he continued the tour. "Let us not stay here any longer. My body feels cold simply from looking at it."

"Beat her up, then." Stith grumbled. "I can walk on my own..."

He reluctantly released her hand. There was no point in making her even more uncomfortable. "And I would not try to beat anyone up if I were you, or else you may very well end up in that place."

They took a sharp right and walked along the border of the northern forest for a while. The journey was slow as Stith's tiny legs were no match for Tiryso's much larger pair. Eventually he compromised and began to take more rapid, yet very short steps so that Stith could stay with him without having to run.

Stith kept herself quiet this time, having no worthwhile comeback to Tiryso's words, and even though she wanted to irritate him, down inside she was still a bit afraid, and did not wish to anger him _too_ much. Eventually she had an idea as she did her best to keep pace, something that she had heard more than once while watching her cartoons.

"Are we there yet?" she muttered.

"We will be to our next destination soon," he said. "You may actually be interested in it."

"I doubt it." said Stith. "Its probably boring, like you." Without the response she had hoped for, she gave up her desire to annoy him. A simple "no" was all that he needed to say.

"Not like me at all. Stith, why don't you guess what it might be?"

"Lupit's fat head?"

Tiryso could not help but laugh as she said this. "Stith!" he scolded, but then was defeated with more laughter. "Don't talk about him like that. What if he was around and heard you? And wrong, guess again."

Stith smirked. "His fat tail?"

"Nope."

"Uh," she began, out of ideas. "Ice cream?"

"I wish," Tiryso chuckled. "But we have none of that here. Guess again."

"Then, I don't know..." she muttered.

"Come now Stith. I thought you were smart. Guess again."

"A bathroom?"

"No, ah come on Stith, you'll see," he said as he continued to take painfully tiny steps. Soon they came to a clearing in the trees, taking the left they was now available, and traveling down the narrow path between two walls of trees.

Stith blinked, even more confused by this strange path. She had no clue where he was taking her. She began to grow uneasy from being led so far away from their hall with a mantrin that was still a stranger, not to mention so much larger than she.

A few minutes, and one short walk later, they came to another structure. This one was much larger than the last, being the equivalent of a three-story building. It was also much wider, and as far as Stith could see, deeper as well. It was one of the few structures she had seen that had any real windows and through these she could see the faint glow of several torches, burning away like a swarm of motionless fireflies.

Stith stared up at the building, unsure what to think about it. It reminded her of something from the city with its size, yet it was out here in the woods. To her that did not make much sense, but she shrugged. "What is that?"

"It is our learning center," he said amidst the chirping of various animals in the forest. Light from the twin moons shone down on the building like a spotlight, although a much gentler light it was. The rest of their surroundings were very dark, making the illumination impressive.

"This is where young children stay and learn. Think of it like a school."

Stith let out a loud, exasperated sigh. "That sounds boring!"

"Maybe," he said as he rather enjoyed education himself. If there was one thing about the humans' world that he missed, it was the wealth of knowledge that could be found anytime, and almost anywhere. "But the fortunate news for you is that you will probably never have to go there."

Stith grinned, "I don't?"

"Well no, not if you go back to your _erseh_. And if not I will teach you."

Stith's grin faded quickly, her ill-willed attitude once again coming forward. "_Erseh_ wouldn't make me learn!"

"Well I assure you it would be painless," he said as he turned and went back the way they came."

Stith grunted and turned as well, following him with her arms crossed over her chest. She nearly kicked his long tail as it swung behind him. "Nu-uh!" she said, but received no reply.

"Come on Stith," Tiryso said. ""We're going to go to one of the most active places here, although there should be no one around this late."

Stith grumbled and followed, although she refused to take his hand again when offered. Instead she swung her fist at it, missing, and nearly spinning around from her force. Had she not found her balance, she would have surely fallen on rump.

As they walked, Tiryso tried to think of something to say. His experience with young mantrin girls that had spent their entire life in a completely different culture was nonexistent at best. He had not even lived in the city for twenty years. What new technologies and toys were there? What was the current fad that all of the children were into? In his time returning there for missions, he had not had time to learn what was new. Myolu would know, but the Orkeht was nowhere to be found. Finally he had an idea, although he knew Stith would not like it. Unfortunately he was not sure what else to ask. "What do you think of Lupit?"

"I hope he chokes on a sandwich," she said with a rough cadence, sticking her tongue out a few inches. "I hate him."

Tiryso could not help but laugh at the mental picture she had drawn for him. It was not so much the thought of him choking, but simply the image of Lupit with a sandwich that Tiryso found terribly amusing. "Have you ever seen a mantrin like him?" he then asked as they walked along at a comfortable pace for once.

"No," she said with as much bluntness as an old butter knife.

"No? Never? Do you even know what his kind are called?"

Stith shook her head. "I hate you."

"Yes, I am most aware of that," he said, smirking. "But that is not what I asked." He continued without waiting for her to retaliate. He was about to mention how many thought that Lupit was a different species altogether instead of only a separate race of mantrin, but then realized that she would have most likely been confused from this talk. He tried to say it in the simplest terms he could manage. "His kind is much like you and me. He is known as a Logri and not a mantrin, but he is still similar enough to look like a mantrin."

Still a few feet behind Tiryso, Stith mocked him, mouthing the words and sticking her tongue out again. "Logri are fat and stupid," she said.

He ignored the comment, not giving her the satisfaction of an argument, and then continued. Hopefully she would learn something, even though she did not intend it. "Yeah they're big and ferocious, and they have long, sharp teeth. If you were to see Lupit's kind in their native home, they would seem like monsters to you. And they're a lot bigger than he is."

"Well they're still fat and stupid," she said, arms crossed over her chest. "They should go back home."

Tiryso sighed. "Stith do you know what a whale is?"

"Mmhmm!" she said, happy to be off of the Lupit subject.

"Well Logri are much like whales as their bodies are covered in blubber to keep them warm. Otherwise they would freeze to death."

"Lupit should free-"

"Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking," he interrupted. "Lupit hardly has any blubber because it is so hot here, but he is still big because of his bones. He still has big guts too."

"Eww guts!" Stith said and then laughed. The moment she realized what she was doing, she stopped, clasping both hands over her muzzle.

"I thought you would like that," he chuckled.

Stith said nothing more on the matter, and soon they had found their way out of the narrow path that had led to the learning center. Without so many trees around, it was much easier for her to see. The open plain appeared to stretch out endlessly, and had Stith walked along it, she was quite certain that she would have eventually been around the planet and back to her original spot. When she stopped walking to look, Tiryso did as well, and then they stood in silence for an uncomfortable moment.

"Um," Stith said when it became clear that he was not going to speak. She tugged on his wrist until he looked over his shoulder and down at her. "Why is Lupit here if he isn't supposed to be? He should go home."

"Oh that is a long story," he said. "But long ago humans were exploring the arctic where the Logri live, and a few of them came back, and now their descendents are living here among us."

"No, no!" Stith grumbled in frustration, throwing her fists into the air and punching them about like one would when swatting swarms of biting insects. "Why is he _here_?!" She pointed roughly at the ground, stomping her right foot. "_Here!_."

"You mean _Wyr'Mo'Gwi_ then," he said, and then continued walking out across the large field. "Are you sure you really want to hear it?"

Stith caught up with him before she spoke. "Yeah so I can know how stupid you are."

"Of course," he humored her. "If you must know, Lupit started the group because he wanted the humans to leave our planet."

"It didn't work!" Stith exclaimed, trotting along behind him.

"No, not very well," Tiryso said. "Originally this community tried very hard to get rid of them, even resorting to murder. You see, we lived in the city long ago, but had to flee because of the crimes. We were lucky to find this abandoned settlement here. We had some additions to make, but for the most part we moved here and made ourselves a new home. We never mentioned we were leaving, so the humans probably still think we are in the city. I can't seem to convince Lupit of this, even though our spies, like Myolu, verify that my belief is correct. They have no clue that we are out here now."

Stith began to whimper as she stopped in her tracks. "You-you killed somebody?"

Tiryso did not look at her when he answered. "Yes I have," he said with a heavy sigh. "I am not proud of it, but I have. More than once. It has only been in self defense Stith. I assure you of that. Lupit knows that I will not kill without being threatened, but others of us will, and they are the ones who have those missions. The ones I lead are more for sabotage."

Stith did not answer. She stopped walking and sat, looking away from him. When Tiryso tried to step in front of her, she turned so that she was still facing away. "Why do you have to do that?" she asked, sniffling.

He sighed heavily, sitting beside her, although he could not get her to face him. "I never enjoy it. In fact I hate it, even if it is a human," he said. "But Stith, if someone was trying to kill you and your friends, would you let them? Or would you fight back? And what if the only way to keep those close to you from being killed was to kill another? Would you do it then, or let them die?"

"I don't want to kill people!"

"Even the one that killed your _ahmo_?"

"I don't know, stop it!" Stith screamed, holding her hands tightly over her ears and curling into a ball. "I don't care just take me home!"

"That was probably not the best thing to tell you," he muttered, looking away from her. "But, you asked. I apologize if I frightened you Stith."

She did not respond to this either and went silent for a long while. The two mantrins exchanged sighs for roughly thirty minutes before Stith finally stood and went trotting in the direction that they had originally been walking. "What other stupid stuff is here?" she asked and looked over her shoulder at him.

Tiryso rose to his feet and followed her, eventually leading the way once more. "Over to your left is the lake. This is the part where all of the boys bathe."

"Together?" she asked, grimacing.

"That is often the case, unless someone comes out here by himself. But it is rare for that to happen."

"Eww. Do the girls have to get a bath together?"

"Yes. Where you would go if you lived here is a place on the other side of the learning center."

"I'm not doing that!" Stith protested. "Take me where you did!"

"That is my plan," Tiryso said with a smirk. "I promise I won't make you bathe with the others."

"You better not!" Stith said, stopping to stomp her foot and glare at him.

However he did not see her venomous eyes, as he was busy gazing over the lake that stretched to the southeast for nearly half a mile. Moonlight frolicked over it like a group of fairies as he had often heard the humans say. The water was very calm that evening. The only disturbance came from the occasional fish leaping in the distance. A cool breeze worked its way over the water, sending a fine mist onto his chest. It was refreshing, especially in the sticky humidity. "It's beautiful Stith, don't you think?"

"No, it's just water," she said. "Who cares?"

"Well you should. It's part of your planet. It's part of who you are Stith. All animals need water to live, and you should feel blessed that Solbrecht has provided it for you."

"If you didn't live in this stupid place, you could get water from a sink, like normal people!"

"Oh Stith," he said, laughing quietly to himself. "Where do you think the sink water comes from? It is all from our rivers, lakes, and streams."

"That's not true! It comes from the faucet. You turn the knob, and you get water!"

"Yes the water comes from a faucet, and that faucet is connected to pipes, and those pipes lead to a storage facility in the city for the water, which comes from where I just said. And every time someone in the city dumps garbage and poisons into the water, you are drinking it. I can assure you that our water here is far cleaner and better for you."

"Uh," she began. Stith's face wrapped into various contortions as she tried to process what he had said. "It's, it's still stupid!"

"If that is what you think," he said. "Now follow me, I want to show you where the others live."

In silence, Tiryso led her along the edge of the lake, eventually taking a sharp right at the same moment that the water began to take a sharp left. Stith remained behind him, and every so often he had to cock his ears to hear if she was still there. The angry footsteps told him so. His ears also caught the distant sounds of nocturnal animals calling to each other, far away in the forest. That was one sound in particular that he knew he would never hear, had he still lived in the city.

It was not long before Stith had to speak. "Is Kiryee Lupit's girlfriend?" she asked. The thought had been on her mind the entire day, and she was frightened that it was true. She had seen them nuzzling more than once, they appeared to be extra kind to each other, and Lupit was always very defensive of her. Stith recalled one of the others in the receiving a violent tongue lashing for making a flirtatious comment toward Kiryee. All of this made her wonder, and she feared her suspicion was correct. How could someone like her love someone like _him_?

Hearing this, Tiryso laughed. "Oh no, no," he said. "I don't think Lupit has an interest in females anymore. They're so close because he raised her since she was an infant. Her _erseh_ vanished when she was an infant, and you know about her_ ahmo_ already. Lupit thinks of her like a daughter, and protects her as such."

"Good because he's stupid!" she said, grinning from the news. "So why does he hate girls?"

"He doesn't," Tiryso said. "But, he has no interest in a mate. I think he is still hurting from losing his long ago. Her name was Turii. He is also getting old. Logri don't live as long as others of our kind."

"Where'd she go?" Stith asked.

"She had lung cancer, and it killed her. She smoked Earth imported tobacco very often. It's a foul habit, but he could never get her to stop, even after losing her pregnancy from it. Lupit blames the doctors for not saving her, but it was not their fault. There was nothing that could be done. What I don't understand is how it can not be a crime to sell a product that can kill."

"I thought she left him because he was-"

"-stupid, I know," Tiryso said, finishing her sentence. "And Stith, don't mention her around Lupit. He is very sensitive about it."

It was not long before they arrived at the hall for the regular members. It was a very long, narrow building made of the same stone and wood as the others. Every several yards there was a opening covered by a curtain, and then a smaller one used as a window. This was also covered by a curtain, and nearly every room had it closed. A glow from firelight could be seen from within on the few that did not. The rooms continued as far Stith could see in the darkness, but eventually the building turned at a right angle and continued in the direction of the _ghishveht_ hall.

Tiryso gestured at the building with his hand. "This side is where all of the boys live," he said. "Each room holds nine mantrins, and we add on as needed. All of the children stay at the learning center until they are forty-five seasons old. Then they move here. If you were to live here longer, you would move way down there." He pointed to the area where the hall turned north. "That is the girls' area."

"But I'm not!" she said, and bravely poked his tail.

Tiryso grimaced from the touch. "Of course not, and I'll ask Lupit in the morning."

"This is boring, can we go?"

"Yes," he said, thankful to be off of the subject.

ooo

Stith awoke from a miserable sleep the next morning. Even without her mind furiously racing from the events of the past few days, she would not have slept more than two hours. The grass-filled mattress and pillow itched her skin as though she were lying on a blanket of insects. Tiryso insisted that she would get used to it, but Stith could not understand how that was possible. Every time she rolled over, which was often, more grass would poke through the pillow and irritate her skin. This was especially so when it got into her delicate ears.

Without an air conditioning unit, the room remained extraordinarily sauna-like, and Stith's sweat irritated her skin even more than the grass. She would have been able to do without covers, if not for having to sleep in the nude. Tiryso had said that during the summer it would have been too hot and uncomfortable to sleep in the _poetyo_, and after stubbornly trying it anyway, she quickly learned that he was right.

What Stith felt she needed was a security blanket, such as her teddy bear. Her only option was to hug her tail. It was a nervous habit that she had developed while at the adoption agency, and it had never fully left. The social workers there had scolded her on more than one occasion for sucking on the tip, but she continued to do so. Having something warm to hold and snuggle put her at ease, even though it _did_ make her look "un-lady like" as the social workers had said.

Stith held her tail tightly to her chest throughout the course of the night. Stith used to bring the tail between her legs and up towards her body, which was fine for a short period of time, but holding it in such a manner throughout the night cut off the circulation, quickly leading to uncomfortable numbness. She decided to lay it across the top of whichever leg was the highest as she slept on her side, and held it that way. She did not like doing it this way because she could not hold as much tail, but it _was_ more comfortable. With the way she was feeling, anything would have been more comfortable than her bed.

She did not understand how Tiryso could sleep so soundly when she was so miserable. He had the exact same sleeping conditions, yet was not bothered one bit. He had fallen asleep within moments of climbing into bed. _Isn't he hot and itchy_?! Stith wondered. The good news was, he did not snore. If he had, Stith knew that shewould have _never_ been able to sleep.

Stith wanted to kill him, and during the night had thoughts of doing so, even though she really would not. She had too much of a heart to kill, no matter how ill she felt toward him. Regardless, she thought about it. She thought about killing him with one of the gourds. by dropping it on his head. That was quickly ruled out, as she could not lift one that was heavy enough. Then she thought about suffocating him, but decided that his muzzle was too large to cover with her hands. She then began to hope that maybe, just maybe, Tiryso would choke on his own saliva, however that was far from likely. The ideas after that gradually became more and more ridiculous: The ceiling caving in and crushing him, a flock of birds coming through the ceiling and eating his brain through his ear, along with others, each idea growing in absurdity. She even imagined having infinite strength and kicking him in half.

Finally, the sky began to lighten as the new day began, and the light from the rising sun slowly seeped into the room through the four skylights. The room was fully lit by the light of the virgin day within an hour. However, she did not hear the familiar chattering of birds that morning, to which she had grown accustomed. It was because she had been too busy concentrating on what she could do to get Tiryso to finally ask about Nodyr. To Stith, he was beginning to be the most stubborn mantrin she had ever seen. She wondered if he would ever go ask; he had said several times the previous day that he would, yet he never did. Over time he seemed to dodge the subject more and more, for reasons that she did not understand. She finally decided that he was doing this to make her stay, and this made her hate him even more.

It was another hour before his eyes opened. Stith had been hoping that he would never wake. Had he not, or so she thought, she would have been able to leave and find Nodyr on her own. Stith was about to scurry back under the sheets when she remembered that she had already dressed herself. It had taken her about thirty minutes to get it right, and even then it was rather sloppy. Worried that it may slide off, she continued to clutch the cloth at her waist like a towel.

"How long have you been awake?" were the first words he spoke after a few minutes of silence. The words were mumbled, and he was very groggy. He slowly sat up and pivoted on his rump so that his legs were on the floor. He stretched out, all four of his knees popping, and then grunted and cooed as it forced blood into his legs.

Stith groaned and averted her eyes upon noticing that he was not dressed yet. Finally she answered him: "All night! I hate my bed! It's itchy and nasty."

"I'm sorry, Stith. You'll get used to it." Standing, Tiryso picked the strips of his _poetyo_ off of the floor and applied the appropriate piece to his waist. "Stith you can face me now, I'm dressed," he calmly added.

Stith reluctantly turned back to face him, with a scowl painted on her face. She pounded her fist on the mattress, sending a few blades of grass onto the floor. "I can't sleep on this itchy thing! It's stupid," she said while scratching one of her irritated ears.

Tiryso stood, stretched his back and arms with a grunt, then popped his jaw on each side. "Stith, this is the way our species has done things as far back as we can remember, as I believe you've been told many times by now. I'm surprised that your adoptive _erseh_ didn't teach you about all of this. Did he?"

"No." Her ears lowered, and then perked right up into the air as one of her feet stomped the ground. "You need to go find him!"

"Yes, yes, we should," he said, looking away from her, and then going back to the subject from which they had strayed. "He should have taught you these things. It's good to know about your culture."

Just as quickly as he had changed subjects, he did so again. "Are you hungry?" he asked her, knowing that neither had eaten since the previous afternoon.

It was then that Stith noticed the emptiness her in belly. She had not really enjoyed a decent meal since breakfast with Nodyr a few days ago. "Yeah," she said with a sigh.

"Okay. I'll get you something. Just sit right there." Stith looked up to see the curtain to the storage closet settle back into place.

Stith spent the next minute or so thinking about escaping. In fact, she was beginning to spend all of her free time thinking about it. She had already decided that, in spite of Tiryso's warning about what would happen to escapees, that she was going to leave in the middle of the night when no one was looking, if he would not help her find Nodyr very soon.

It all seemed so perfect in her mind. Once she escaped, Stith was going to leave and find him, and then all would be well. She was concentrating on that at the moment. _I'll leave and run really fast so they can't catch me, then I'll find_ erseh_ and he'll be happy to see me, and I'll tell him what happened, and he'll tell the police on them, and they'll make them go to jail, and eat their nasty jail food, and_—"

"Here you go." Tiryso's voice cut through her thoughts. She looked up to see that he was sitting on the floor, on the rug, and alongside a few gourds and bowls, two of which had already been filled with fresh water. There was a larger bowl in the middle that was partially filled with the same berries that Stith had eaten earlier. Tiryso reached into one of the gourds and pulled out several pieces of jerked _simr_, which he then placed into another bowl and pushed up beside the one that contained the berries. "Please sit," he said. He smiled and motioned his slate colored hand towards Stith, and then to the other side of the rug.

The young mantrin did as she was asked, not only because her stomach commanded her but because she was too tired to argue. Tiryso took a sip of his water as Stith sat on the rug. "What's that mean?" she asked, pointing to the markings in the center of the rug.

"You don't know?" Tiryso decided that he should not have been surprised. Stith knew hardly anything about her culture. "I guess you weren't taught about this, either."

"No. Probably because it's stupid." Stith frowned as she reached for a few berries and began munching on them.

"Stith, just because something is different doesn't mean it's stupid."

"Uh huh."

"No, it doesn't." He moved the bowls aside so that she could see the markings a bit more clearly.

He breathed out heavily, causing his well developed chest to sink, and lowered his eyes. "I don't know where you learned to think like that." He paused. "Yes, I do. The human that raised you didn't teach you to think like that, did she?"

"No." Stith scowled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I didn't think so," he said with a smile. He then pointed at the center of the designs, continuing. "These little symbols are how we write. Surely you've seen them."

"No," Stith said, her voice trailing off as though she was ashamed of her response.

"I'm sorry to hear that." He reached into the gourd at his side and pulled out a piece of the _simr_. "Care for any?"

"Ewww, no. It's not cooked. Get it away," she snapped.

"Okay, okay. Back to the writing." He once again pointed a claw at the center of the rug. "I don't suppose you want to learn how these form words, do you?

"No I don't," Stith droned as she clasped her fingers in between her toes and rocked backward on her tail.

"I didn't think you did." He bit off another piece of the _simr_ before continuing. "Stith, these are the names of my mate and daughter." His eyes looked very distant for a moment.

"Oh." She stared blindly ahead for a moment before looking up at Tiryso. "Where are they?"

"They," he began and then let out a weary sigh. "They passed away many years ago, from an illness. I was fortunate enough not to have been affected by it, but they were not so lucky. Poor Aupit was so young. Her body succumbed to it in just over a day." He stopped there, looking away from Stith with his eyes nearly closed. His body gave a sudden shiver as though an arctic wind had blown through the room.

"Well that's what you get for making this stupid place," she snapped.

"Stith, I didn't," he said with a sigh. Slowly he returned his attention to her. "I thought you would be able to understand how I feel after what you have lost. I guess not." He sighed once more, and then after a quick bite of his jerky, changed the subject and spoke in a tone as though he did not care if she listened anymore. "Very well, I think we were talking about how I write.

"I used the juice from those berries that you're eating to dye this on my rug." Tiryso placed his claw on a shape that resembled a diamond with one of its sides curling outward. "Stith, see this?"

Stith nodded, but then had to complain again. "I don't care! You said we're gonna find _erseh_ so let's go!"

"Stith! Even if we can go, we can't right now. I have to discuss it with Lupit first. I'll ask after breakfast, but for this moment you are stuck here, so how about trying to learn something? It doesn't appear that you were learning anything at all about your culture at home. This is good for you." He paused to take a deep breath in hopes of calming his temper. He knew how violent it could get, and the last thing he wanted was to show it in front of her, no matter how upset he was with her lack of remorse. He then tried to continue, whether she listened or not.

"You read this as 'yol'. It makes the first part of my mate's name, which was Yola."

Stith nodded indifferently, and then wiped berry juice off of her beak before taking a sip of her water.

"How is it?" he asked her.

"How's what?"

"The water."

"It's good," Stith coyly admitted.

"See, it's perfectly clean, unlike the city water that you are used to drinking. That has all sorts of nasty things in it, as you would say." After the brief detour, he returned to the writing, tracing his claw around the symbols in a clockwise motion. "Now this next one, the diagonal line, is read as 'a.' Put the two symbols together and you get 'Yola'." He sighed and looked down at Stith, who seemed to finally be paying attention; at the least she was looking at the rug. "Do you understand?"

Stith nodded a third time. "The rest is Aupit, I know," she said.

He chuckled quietly. "Well, just the next three symbols, which are, 'au', 'pih', and 't', respectfully.

"The rest is a phrase that you probably don't know, since it doesn't really translate into English, and from speaking with you, your Preidogian isn't very good. It says: _Syneht wier khi gahmo ot, tehir sherii gwi os" _

Seeing the muddled look on Stith's face, he added, "The closest thing in the language you are used to would be, 'I'll love you until I die'. Unfortunately, it's completely stripped of its meaning that way.

"Oh," she said, tracing her fingers around the characters. "How do you write _my_ name?" she asked after a moment, trying to sound as bored as possible.

Tiryso's eye ridges rose as she spoke. "Oh, so you _are_ interested."

"Nuh uh."

"But you just asked me how to write your name. Surely you care."

"No."

"Of course." He humored her, continuing the lesson. "You write it like this." Not wanting to use his rug, he reached over and grabbed a piece of his _poetyo_ that was not in use, this he laid flat in front of him. He then took a few berries out of the bowl, crushed them in his fingers, and covered the claw on his middle finger with the juice so he could write. On the cloth he made a small rectangle, followed by what appeared to be a capital T on its side and finally, directly under it, a straight horizontal line with a hook at its right tip. "There you go, Stith--"he turned the cloth so that it faced her "--that's your name," he said proudly.

Stith picked up the cloth and studied it, trying to figure out how her five-letter name came from just three symbols. "I don't get it," she said, cocking her head to the side. "Um," she began. "That's—" she about to say it was neat, but caught herself. "—stupid!" she finally said.

"If you wish," he said, not having any desire to argue. "So, do you understand? Any questions?"

"Yeah," she said, grinding her fists into her sides. Her tail swished angrily. "When are you gonna ask when I can leave?"

"Oh, right," he said, standing and slowly making his way toward the exit. "We can do that right now I suppose. I wanted to wait to be sure that Lupit would be awake, but okay, okay, we'll ask him. The sooner we take you home, the better."

"You better," Stith grumbled.

It was at that moment that Tiryso realized that they would not have far to go to see Lupit. Just as he was about to take another step, there was a rough rustle at the curtain. He looked down to be able to make out the tips of Lupit's black toes barely poking into the room.

"Come in," Tiryso said, and then added: "I thought you were asleep."

Lupit tugged the curtain aside, and soon his large figure was in the room, only a few feet away from Tiryso. "I had a problem. That is all," he said flatly, not really showing any emotion. He then turned his attention to Stith, arms crossed over his chest. "How is she?"

"Considering the circumstances, she's fine," he replied. He waited through a brief silence in which he exchanged glances with the _abwot_: Lupit's expression slowly went from flat to annoyed. "Oh!" Tiryso suddenly said. "I apologize for being rude." He stepped closer to him, touching their muzzles together in a respectful greeting.

"Yes," the Logri said, not seeming too interested in making a big deal out of the situation. "If she is alright, then we should think about getting her moved with the others."

The Goureg stepped back, nervously scratching at the back of his head. "That will be a bit of a problem I fear. Stith wanted me to talk to you about it."

He cocked an eye ridge. "Why? There is not much to discuss."

"What are you talking about?!" Stith interjected. "When are we going to find _erseh_?"

"You're staying here," Lupit said to her, about as bluntly as possible. He then turned his attention to the Goureg. "Tiryso, you know the rules. She can't leave. Do you not have any sense?"

"I-" he began, stuttering. "-I guess I had hope since this is a unique situation. Her _erseh_ is still alive. He's a mantrin Lupit. I think she needs to be returned to him."

"No," he said without even taking a moment to consider it. "If you push the matter, some of us might start to question your loyalty to our way of life.

"I really don't see the harm," he replied. "I think she would keep quiet in return for taking her home."

"Tiryso have you forgotten that we're responsible for the death of her parent? We can't count on her to ignore it. We can't trust her. Think about it," he said roughly. "You're one of the smartest mantrins here, so this shouldn't be difficult."

"You better let me go!" Stith shouted, not showing any fear.

Lupit gazed at her with a scowl. "I said no. You're staying. Try to escape and I'll make sure your life is short." To emphasize his point, he flashed a mouth full of long, carnivorous teeth.

Stith retreated in fear, not realizing how much different he really was, as well as his potential to be dangerous. Too frightened to strike him, she turned and gave Tiryso a vicious kick to his leg, right between the two knees; he yelped but did not defend himself. "Let me go!" she yelled again as she began to cry. "I want to see _erseh_! Please let me go!" she added in desperation.

"No!" Lupit shouted, turning to Tiryso. "She has an _erseh_?"

"She keeps saying so, yes," he said as calmly as he could. "But he would be in the city because there is no one here. Can we just pretend this never happened and take her home?"

"That is not an option," he snarled, not making an effort to control his temper. "If you insist on treason, maybe you too do not value your life. If she leaves, you will be held responsible."

The Goureg looked away, clenching his eyes tightly along with his fists. He summoned every ounce of willpower that he could manage to avoid striking the _abwot_. It would have been certain death, as doing so at the moment would have been a signal that he refused to agree. Hearing Stith's miserable wails only made it more difficult to control himself, but it was all he could do.

"Fine," he eventually said.

"Good," Lupit said. "Tiryso, do not give me a reason to lose trust in you."

"That would be a mistake," he muttered, looking away.

"I am pleased to know we agree," he replied. Without so much as a good bye, Lupit began to make his way out of the room. Just before leaving, he glanced over his broad shoulder. "And Tiryso, mention this to me again, and you will lose your _ghishveht_ status. Possible traitors are not worthy of special privileges.

"I know," he said under his breath, and then released a heavy sigh as he watched Stith. She was curled up on his rug into a tight ball, whimpering. "I'm sorry Stith. I thought he might make an exception."

"You said I could go," she choked. "I hate you."

"I cannot ask for more," he said, sighing again as he rested on his bed. "It is my job to care for you now. I will do my best."

"Just go away," Stith said, and then spoke no more.

ooo

The remainder of the day passed without a word from Stith. In fact, she did not even move from her spot on the rug. Out of spite, she urinated on it, and then continued her refusal to move. Her only movement was lashing out with her legs, should anyone stand near her. She would not even eat, no matter how hungry she felt. At one moment, Kiryee had stopped by for a visit, however even this did not cheer up the young mantrin.

It was not long before Tiryso decided to give her some space. He did not bother her, not speak to her after the last failed food offering, and after being kicked more than he could handle. He did not leave his room either, staying in bed the rest of the day. There was nothing to do, and the only time he was not sitting in silence was when someone walked past his room, talking to a friend.

Soon night fell, and as he lay in bed, he was relieved from the terrible boredom as he drifted to sleep. Unfortunately it was a very restless one. He tossed and turned with the thoughts of the day filling him with anger, guilt, and fear. Each time he woke he sniffed the air to make sure that Stith was still there. Each time she was.

Finally his fatigue was too great, and the sleep overcame him. He was out for many hours.

ooo

Stith woke up around the equivalent of eleven at night from a nightmare that she had had, even though she could not recall it fully. The dream, coupled with discomfort from the rug quickly woke her. Whatever the nightmare had been, it left her with a sick feeling in her stomach. She wanted to leave, and to leave immediately. The desire to leave outweighed her fear of death, and so she stood to make her escape. It would have been her best opportunity, or so she thought.

Carefully, she listened for Tiryso. His light breathing told her that he was asleep. This along with the pounding of her frightened hearts was all that she could hear.

It was dark. Stith had never known this kind of darkness, which seemed to absorb her, and tease her fear of the dark relentlessly. From within the room, there was not even the light from the stars to illuminate her surroundings, as Tiryso had covered the room's skylights before going to sleep.

Ever so slowly she dressed, so as to be as hushed as possible. She moved so slowly that she was not even sure if she was dressing properly. The longer she took, the louder her hearts began to pound. In her head, she told them to be quiet, but they would not listen, thereby defeating her purpose for moving slowly. Then, at an even more gradual pace, she tiptoed toward the door. About halfway there, she realized that she had forgotten something very important. She did an about face and walked back toward her bed, holding her breath so it would not make a sound, and then passing the bed to push through the certain that led to the food storage room.

Doubts filled her mind about whether she would be able to find the gourd that contained her swimsuit in the suffocating darkness that filled the room. She went to side of the wall that contained the correct gourd. All that she could do was feel around with her hands until they rested on one. After a tense moment of brushing the air, she found one that she thought was correct, although she would not know for sure until it was opened. This she did. Much to her annoyance, the waxy seal took an impressive amount of force to break. Once it did, she stumbled backward, and she found herself covered with dried berries. Stith frantically shoved herself to her feet, stumbled as quietly as she could to the door of the room, and listened for Tiryso.

He had not stirred.

With much relief, she groped along the wall again to find the gourd that was next to the one she just opened. She opened it, this time careful to lean against a wall so she did not find herself on her rump again. She felt inside to find cloth. What she felt was most unlike the _poetyo_. She knew it had to be her swimsuit. Quickly recapping the lid of the gourd, she stood, and cradling her treasure like a kitten, continued the mission.

Once she reached the curtain to the hallway, she attempted to brush it out of her way. It did not move. She put the gourd on the floor and felt for the rocks that she had seen on each side of the curtain to keep it closed. She carefully drug them aside, picked up the gourd, and this time brushed the curtain out of her way. Suddenly, there was a loud creak as a board beneath her feet shifted. Stith gasped in panic and began to run at full speed, no longer worrying about being heard.

The hallway was lit with a few small torches, similar to the ones in the corners of Tiryso's room, although the light was still very dim. It was just enough to help Stith find her way to her destination. She dashed down the hallway, breathing heavily. All of the curtains were down as far as she could see, much to her relief. However, this was the last thing to which she was paying attention.

The twin moonlight illuminated the grounds much better than the torchlight. Stith could see her destination, which was the forest past the lake. Without pausing to admire her surroundings, she continued at full sprint.

She was barely thirty feet past the hall when she began to hear footsteps behind her. Her hearts leapt from her chest, but before she had a chance to run faster, she felt two powerful arms around her. She was hoisted into the air as a hand wrapped firmly around her muzzle, choking the scream that she was about to give.


	8. The Meeting

**Chapter 8**

_The Meeting_

The ground was quickly separated from Stith's feet as she was hoisted into the air. Despite how much she squirmed, Stith could not break free of her captor's grasp. She did a great job of wiggling and squirming, but eventually it was too much for her and she had no choice but to relent; the stranger held her too firmly.

Beneath Stith's dangling legs was the gourd that she dropped in her surprise. It rolled across the grass until it was stopped by her captor's foot.

Stith knew she was in trouble, but she had no idea how much. Memories about what she had been told rushed back to her mind with the force of a tsunami. Lupit had said that those caught escaping would be killed. Stith did not believe him at the time, but now she was not so sure. What if they did kill her, or worse? As this fear overcame her, Stith began kicking and squirming savagely again. It was in vain.

Stith could feel her captor's hot breath on the back of her neck. It was hot and damp, and this sensation, along with how she knew that she could be killed at any moment by this monster, if what she had been told was true, caused her stomach to surge into her skull before plummeting to her feet. She savored each of her breaths, as she thought that any one may have been the last. They were delicious, even when suffocated with panic.

Her hearts were beating furiously, as if they were going to burst, and it was a safe bet that the mantrin holding her could feel them throbbing though her chest. Stith's fear finally got the best of her as she began to cry out in desperation, calling for Tiryso, for Kiryee, for anyone nearby.

It was then that her captor spoke. "Oh, Stith. Don't cry. Shhhh," cooed a soothing, feminine voice, much like a mother to her upset infant. As she spoke she released Stith's muzzle. "You might wake someone, and if they saw you out here you'd _really_ be in trouble." Stith recognized the soft, alto voice immediately. It was Kiryee. Part of Stith was relieved and part of her was chilled with fear upon realizing this. Both simultaneous feelings confused her mind. So far, Kiryee had been kind to her, but she had only known her for two days. Stith wondered if she would hurt her this time for breaking the rules.

Shaking with fear, Stith timidly turned her head back to face the owner of the voice, and this confirmed her assumption. Staring down her muzzle though soft eyes was Kiryee. She appeared drowsy, annoyed, and dissapointed all at the same time.

"And what do you think you're doing?" Kiryee asked, giving her a light squeeze. At this, Stith let out a machine-gun paced barrage of "I'm sorries" and "don't hurt mes", which was cut short by Kiryee closing her hand around Stith's muzzle. "I'm not going to hurt you," she cooed. Her free hand tenderly rubbed Stith's ears, soothing her. She then held her steady, supporting her back and legs, and proceeded to carry her back to the hallway.

"Stith, what were you doing out here?" Kiryee asked. She grunted as she realized that the hallway's guards were missing. She made a mental note to give them extra work at their next training session, as well as an extended yelling.

Stith sniffed slightly, leaning against Kiryee. "I wanna go home," she whimpered.

"I know, Stith, but it's not safe to let you go, and we don't even know where your caretaker is. What if he tells the humans about us, which he surely will, and then we could all be killed. Sorry but I can't let you go either Stith." She touched the end of her beak to Stith's own, looking into her eyes. It was then that Stith realized just how much larger Kiryee was than she. Her muzzle was at least twice the length of her own, and Kiryee was even small for her race. To Stith, it was no wonder how she had been restrained with such ease.

"Speaking of which," she sneered, and then picked up her pace so that they would arrive back at the hall as soon as possible, "I think there was someone _here_ that was supposed to be taking care of you."

Once in the hallway, Kiryee carried Stith into her own room. Stith could not tell precisely how it was arranged in the dark, but the shadows she saw showed a room that was more or less equivalent to how Tiryso's. The stop there was brief, as Kiryee first applied her chest _poetyo _(Stith had just noticed that she had not been completely dressed), and then went over to one of the room's far corners and leaned forward to pick up two objects from the floor that clacked together. Stith assumed that they were rocks from the sound.

Kiryee then carried Stith out of the room, further down the hallway, and making no attempt to keep her act silent, pushed her way through Tiryso's curtain and into his room. She set Stith on the floor, went over to one of the corners, and struck the two stones together a few times, and soon a spark emanated from them. She used this to light the torch in that corner. She stuffed the rocks into her top _poetyo_, and then carried Stith over to the sleeping Tiryso.

"Hey, I think you lost this!" she bellowed as she dumped Stith onto Tiryso's chest. The young mantrin fell with a light thump. Tiryso woke with a nervous start. His rapid, sporadic attempt to get out of bed resembled a fish's attempt to get back into the water, and resulted in him falling on the floor while Stith managed to stay on the bed.

The little mantrin peered down at Tiryso, doing her best to keep from laughing.

"Whaaa?" Tiryso groaned. His chest was heaving from being startled, however he still sounded half asleep. Apparently his little scene had failed to wake him up completely. He rubbed one of his eyes and yawned, getting up after a few moments, and began the tedious task of untangling his sheets from his legs and tidying up his bed so that he could go back to sleep.

"I found her, outside, with the gourd you kept her clothes in, trying to leave." Kiryee snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. She picked at the rocks in her top _poetyo_ as they had begun to itch her skin, but she had no other place to put them at the moment

"Stith was outside?" Tiryso asked. He yawned again and sat down on his newly made up bed, looking through tired eyes at Kiryee.

"Yes, she was outside!" Kiryee yelled. "I caught her on my way back from relieving myself."

"How'd she make it past the guards?" Tiryso asked. He rubbed his eyes again and leaned back against the wall.

"What guards?!" Kiryee asked. She snorted again.

"They weren't there?"

"That's right." Kiryee's agitation had not even begun to diminish; Tiryso was beginning to look agitated as well as he had finally woken up enough to grasp the concept of what had happened. "What if someone else caught her, Tiryso? What if she got lost in the woods?" Kiryee's voice had a hint of sadness to it. She did not want to think of the possibilities. "She could have died, and it was because you weren't paying attention to her."

"I was asleep!" Tiryso said. "I wouldn't think that she'd be stupid enough to try to leave! Never mind what we told her what could happen if she was caught, but what if she _did_ get lost in the woods? I trusted her common sense not to leave her safety!"

"Tiryso, she's maybe twenty seasons old! She doesn't have any such thing as common sense!" Kiryee placed her hands on her upper pair of knees, and leaned toward him. Her ears were folded back. "All she knows is that she wants her _ahmo_ and she wants her _erseh_, and she's willing to do just about anything to try to get to them!"

Tiryso sighed and raised a hand to silence her. "Not so loud, Kiryee. You might wake everyone else."

"Good!" Kiryee shouted. She purposely raised the volume of her voice. "Then at least _someone_ would notice and realize that it's a little strange for a little girl to be going outside, carrying a gourd that's about half her size!" Stith backed off of the bed and into a corner far away from the quarrelling pair. "And would then try to stop her! Unlike you!"

Tiryso spat back, "How was I supposed to know she'd escape?! I can't watch her every second. If you think you can take better care of her, then fine! Take it up with the _abwot_!"

Kiryee grunted, continuing the argument. She emphasized each sentence with her finger poking into his chest. "Believe me, I would love to, but that's not possible because I have to train _and_ take care of the food rations, otherwise Lupit wouldn't be allowing me to live in the _ghishveht_ hall, and I'm not giving that up! Youwanted to watch her. _You _watch her. Tiryso, if this girl gets hurt, I'll see that you lose something--" an eerie calm fell over her voice as she traced her hand over his ear "--valuable." He flinched, mainly because her threat was not idle. Even high-ranking _ghishvets_ were not safe from punishment, and Kiryee could be very persuasive.

"Stop fighting!" Stith shouted, cutting through the argument.

"We aren't dear," Kiryee said sweetly as her head snapped to face her. "We're just aggressively discussing your safety. Isn't that right, you old fool?" She lightly jabbed him in his belly after she said this.

He gasped as the breath escaped him, and then nodded. "We're not fighting," he said, sitting back down on his bed. As he slid back under his sheets, another voice was heard from the other side of the curtain. It was a gentle male voice, with a low tenor quality.

"Kiryee," said the voice with a surprising amount of calm, "Can this wait until morning? I'm not the only one that is trying to get some sleep."

"Salu," said Kiryee, "I'm sorry, but we have something important to discuss. About a neglectful guardian." She gave Tiryso another sharp poke as she said this.

"Yes, I know. We can all hear you very well. The child tried to escape, and now you are infuriated that Tiryso felt the need to sleep at some point", he said, yawning deeply and smacking his lips; this they heard clearly from the other side of the curtain. "And, as I would expect from someone with your dismal level of patience, you felt that this situation had to be dealt with right now. Personally I do not appreciate the disturbance, and wish that you could use better judgment about when you have to make a scene."

"Who's that?" Stith asked of anyone that wished to answer.

"Salu," Kiryee said. "He's our librarian."

"You have a library here?" Stith's ear twitched slightly. She did not like to read very much, but it would be at least something to keep her busy.

"A library of records, yes," she said. Stith immediately lost interest. "Salu keeps record of everything that goes on here and puts them in our library. He also has several records of the human's history, which he has translated for us. But, dear, you shouldn't look at those. They can be very scary. You'd have nightmares for sure." Kiryee gave Stith's head a loving pat as she said this.

"Yes, I'm the librarian," he said as he pushed his head through the curtain and into the room. "You don't have to talk about me like I'm not here." Stith had trouble seeing in the flickering firelight, but she could tell that Salu was a Goureg like Tiryso. Salu was a bit shorter than he, but he towered over her and Kiryee nonetheless. He also did not have the same long, defined muzzle that Tiryso had. His shoulders were broad and squat, giving his upper body a boxlike appearance.

Kiryee laughed. "Well, sorry if I offended you."

"I'm not offended," he said, then stepped fully into the room and moved a little closer to Stith so that he could see her more clearly. As he did so, Stith became aware of his scent. It was an odd smell that Stith couldn't quite grasp, resembling a combination of fresh flowers and leather. Odd yes, but she still found it rather pleasant. Tiryso had a similar scent, but it was not as strong.

Large, tranquil eyes stared down at her from under Salu's brow. Even in the darkness, Stith could see their bright green-blue quality as the flickering torchlight danced over his body. "So you're the girl that I've been hearing about," he said and then glanced over at Kiryee. "She's pretty."

Kiryee's face blushed from her jaw line to her ear tips. "Yes she _is_ pretty, and I'm envious. She does have a name, so you know. It's Stith." She looked over her shoulder to see that Tiryso had already fallen asleep. Deciding to just let him rest, she turned her attention back to Salu and Stith.

"You don't need to be, Kiryee. You inherited your _ahmo_'s beauty." Kiryee dismissively snorted as he looked back down at Stith. "Hi, Stith. I'm pleased to finally meet you, even if it is in this awkward situation," he said.

"_Ureaht_," Stith greeted him softly. She spoke more to the floor than to Salu. Then, as she let her eyes trace from his feet upward, she averted her eyes in embarrassment. Her entire body tensed up as she looked away. "You're gross," she slowly said, still looking away. "Why can't you just wear your stupid clothes?"

"Well dear, you don't want me to sleep in them do you? It would be most uncomfortable," Salu said. "And then even if Kiryee was being respectful enough to be quiet, I would never be able to sleep I fear."

Kiryee chuckled once more. "Salu, that's part of what the meeting is about tomorrow. Lupit wants a new dress code with Stith here, among other things. He wants it at _lii'saa_ too, just after the sun comes over the forest."

He nodded, and then turned to leave. "I never will understand why he must do this so early. Someone needs to remind him that we younger mantrins have different sleeping cycles than he. Oh well, _Syneht khi sayft tyoti _you three"

_"_Yes. I'll see you tomorrow too," she said. She then jokingly added, "Maybe I can bribe Lupit into cutting it short."

"Would you?" he asked with a soft laugh, then yawned deeply as he made his way back to his room.

"Maybe," she said to herself. Her almond shaped, golden eyes devilishly narrowed.

"He's weird," Stith said, cutting off Kiryee's brief fantasy. She was lying down on the floor and was about to fall asleep again, and probably would have if it were not for the hypnotic light display on the walls and ceiling from the torch. Her eyes seemed entranced by them, much like a child seeing a fireworks show for the first time. Finally, Stith clumsily rolled onto her back and added, "I don't like him."

"Oh, Stith, you barely know him. But you're right. Salu's just another big, stupid male like my friend here." She playfully kicked Tiryso in his leg, causing him to momentarily wake. He grunted and rubbed his leg before nodding back off to whatever dream he was having.

"Yeah. Boys are stupid and gross." Stith yawned, eventually letting her eyes rest from the light show. As her eyes lidded, Stith contently placed her hands over her belly.

"Some of them are kind of cute," Kiryee said, directing the statement more to herself than at Stith. "Now come on, you need to get back in bed. You're going to have to get up early tomorrow."

"But I want to sleep right here," Stith said as Kiryee lowered herself to pick her up into her arms. .

"No, you don't. Then you'll wake up feeling all sore and icky, and you don't want that to happen, do you?" Without waiting for a reply, Kiryee carried her back over to her bed and covered her up. Once Stith was tucked in, Kiryee leaned forward and gave her a light lick on the back of her exposed ear; Stith did not fight it. In fact, she secretly enjoyed it. "Now, Stith, don't you worry. I'm never going to let you get hurt. Go to sleep now. I'm going to go get your gourd for you."

In the commotion, Stith had nearly forgotten about her treasure. It was still outside on the grass. "Okay," she said, almost in the comfort of the dream world.

Kiryee patted her on the head. "I'll be right back. Sleep well."

Before she left, Kiryee extinguished the torch's flame. Once the room had been swallowed in darkness, it did not take long for the young mantrin to return to a deep sleep.

ooo

Stith was gently rocked awake at about the equivalent of six in the morning. It was Tiryso who had done so, and once he saw that she had begun to stir, he left the room to allow her to dress, however she did not realize this. A moment later, he returned and lightly shook her shoulder again. This time, he spoke softly.

"Stith, you need to get up," he whispered into her ear, giving her shoulder another light shake and a gentle squeeze. "We have a meeting." This time, Tiryso waited for Stith to open her eyes and look at him before he left the room again; before leaving he took a moment to roll back the parchment over his skylights. Light poured into the room like golden waterfalls that illuminated four patches on the floor. Stith could see dust floating around through the light; it playfully drifted through the air like the freed seeds of a dandelion.

She grunted, sitting up slowly and lightly rubbing at her forehead and ears. She then blinked her eyes rapidly a few times while they adjusted to the fresh light. Not wanting to get up so early, Stith lay back down and considered covering up in her itchy sheets. This she finally did, but unfortunately her skin grew rather sweaty and irritated, causing her to finally toss the sheets aside and stood to follow Tiryso.

Food was the first thing to occupy Stith's mind once she was out of bed. Upon standing, she heard a low irritated rumble deep within her belly that seemed to be cued by her feet touching the ground. She considered going into the storage room to get something to eat, but realized that she needed to dress first. Unfortunately, once her _poetyo_ had been applied to her waist and chest, Tiryso returned to take her to the meeting.

"I'm hungry," Stith explained, as she was scooted through the doorway. No meeting, she felt, was more important than filling her tummy at the moment. Tiryso did not seem to agree.

"The meeting will only last a few minutes, Stith," he said as he quickly led her down the hallway. "And if we are late, we might be in serious trouble. The last thing I want is to be in bad company with Lupit. It is also the last thing you want Stith."

She muttered something sarcastic, although he did not hear it.

As they walked, Stith heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. They gained on her and eventually passed before stopping and turning. Stith craned her neck up at the figure and was startled at his bizarre appearance. Even in the low light, she could see that his skin was a nauseating pea soup green. He was unusually thin; his ribs peered through the skin, and what belly he had was hiding somewhere between his navel and backside. What especially startled Stith were his ears. They appeared to be like folded up fans that rested against his skull. He had a very strange odor, one like wet leather and ripened meat.

The strange mantrin lowered himself until his muzzle was nearly touching her own. He looked at her, and Stith had the unsettling feeling that his eyes were staring through her, as though he was not full aware of her presence, much like a mindless animal. "My my, what is this?" he said rapidly in a sour tenor voice, and sniffing just as quickly. He placed his muzzle on each side of hers, still sniffing and finally licking her neck. "Tiryso she tastes like the city," he said, looking up at him while Stith shivered. "What's wrong with her?"

"Hliac, go away. We have a meeting," Tiryso said. "You don't want to be late, and you will find out about her then."

"Oh I bet I will," he replied. "We all will." He hurried down the hallway and was soon out of view.

Tiryso looked ahead as they walked. "That's Hliac. He's rather strange as you can see. Try to ignore him. He's good at what he does, but he can be very annoying. Sometimes I wonder if everything is working in his head."

Once outside, it quickly became apparent to Stith how hot it was. Even in the early morning the air was steamy, and the previous afternoon's rain only helped to increase the humidity. The thick layers of _poetyo_ on her body furthered her discomfort. Stith was relieved when she realized that the meeting was being held under the shade of a large tree that was right behind the hallway. The back of it, as well as the entire outside of the structure, was an exact copy of the walls inside the building. That is, they were a variety of dark stones fitted together with a primitive grout or cement; the roof was flat and wooden, reinforced at the borders by more stone. It was not exactly the prettiest thing in the world, but it seemed to be very sturdy and was better than living outside.

Kiryee, Lupit, Salu, and many others that she did not recognize were already seated on the grass. They were not arranged in any particular order, nor were they sitting in any sort of a proper position, and the situation just generally looked to be very casual. They were all chatting quietly, all that is except for a single Sogowan female that was seated alone. She was the only female that Stith saw other than Kiryee, appeared to be about Lupit's age, and despite having had lived many years was still attractive. One could even say she was beautiful. However, the cold, isolated look in her eye eradicated any beauty that she may have possessed.

Tiryso seated himself next to Kiryee, and motioned for Stith to sit between them. She did so. A few of the strange mantrins started gesturing in her direction as they talked, their eyes clinging to her as they spoke. Her own eyes met those of one such mantrin. He was a Goureg like most of the others in the region, and he responded with a soft smile. The smile was overshadowed by the powerful muscles that covered his body; they were very well toned and he appeared in excellent shape.

"Who is that?" Stith asked Kiryee, tugging on her _poetyo_, and pointed at the Goureg.

"Oh that's Hoht," she said, waving to him. He waved in return. "He's our best hunter. He helps bring us food, so be nice to him."

"You don't have a grocery store?" Stith asked.

"What's that?"

Tiryso answered for her. "No we don't Stith. We collect all of our own food, and if you are a _ghishveht_ like Kiryee and myself, you get your own garden to grow whatever you would like."

"Ugh," Stith muttered and then tugged on Kiryee's _poetyo_ once more. She pointed at the lone female. "Who's that?"

"Oh, that's my _ahmo_. Her name is Eleisyn, but you don't want to talk to her. She's mean."

"She is?"

Kiryee nodded, and then lowered her voice so that very few would hear her. "She's really, really mean, especially to anyone she gets to punish. Trust me Stith, you don't want to be sent to her. She's even hurt me before."

Stith looked saddened by this statement. "Why? You're nice."

"Like I said, she's mean." She reached down to scratch Stith behind the ears. "But don't worry about it, Stith. I'm a tough girl," she said, forcing a smile.

"Oh." Stith sadly looked down at the ground, her eyes becoming drawn to a small beetle-like insect that was stumbling through the grass.

Everyone else continued chatting for several minutes until Lupit arrived. Stith had trouble understanding them since they were speaking as rapidly as they were, and her Preidogian was not very strong. She still had trouble even with Tiryso and Kiryee, and they were making an attempt to keep it simple for her.

Stepping in front of the group, Lupit raised his arm to call for silence. He looked around, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the members. After a grunt he spoke. "Where is Myolu?" he grumbled.

Tiryso looked up at him. "He's already gone back to the city. I haven't seen him since Stith woke."

"He knew we had a meeting. He knows the consequences for missing one," he said, and then quickly skirted the subject. "This meeting will be short. I only have a few things to say." There was a small pause, and he seemed to be concentrating on what to say next. "First," he began, gesturing to Stith, "this is Stith." There was another pause. "Her presence here was not intended, but one of our members here decided to kill her adoptive _ahmo_."

"Why?" asked one of the Gouregs.

"She was human," said Lupit. "It is the only guess."

"She doesn't like humans, does she? I mean, she didn't really _want_ to be there, right?" said another mantrin, although this one's race Stith could not make out. He was very tall, much like Tiryso and Salu, and he also had their bright green-blue eyes. However, his skin was much darker, and he had the same thick build as Lupit. She saw a few very faint variations in his skin tone that reminded her of the Gouregs. Stith wanted to speak up about his comment, but remained silent. She was afraid that she might be in trouble for interrupting them, not only from Lupit, but also from this mantrin. To Stith, he appeared to be the type who would be violent in solving problems.

"She did, and she still does." Lupit responded. "But she must stay here, for our safety."

"I don't care. We don't need her kind here." Turpin, the strange colored mantrin, grunted as he spoke. A few of the other _ghishvehts_began muttering amongst themselves after this comment.

"She's staying. Do not interrupt me about this anymore!" Lupit glanced over at Eleisyn, causing Turpin to retreat. "I do not want her here anymore than the rest of you. We have to live with it anyway. The one that brought us this misfortune has been punished already. I believe he is dead. If so, then I know he deserved it. So let this be a lesson to those that get any ideas to go against your orders."

No one responded and a cold silence fell over the group. Eventually one of them did speak, a distant female voice. "He's dead," said Eleisyn without any emotion. She spoke no more and returned her attention elsewhere.

Kiryee shuddered, squeezing Stith's hand tightly. "She's strange," she whispered. "_Ahmo_ doesn't seem to be able to feel other's pain. I actually think she enjoys hurting people. Stay far away from her dear."

Lupit leaned against the back of a nearby tree. "Next is something you will like even less," he muttered, and was then greeted by a wave of groans and moans. "Until Stith loses her prudish nature, I have to extend the clothing rule to us. If you are outside of your room, cover yourself."

"What?!" one of the two Orkehts shouted. "Why do we have to lose one of the freedoms that we've worked hard to earn? This isn't fair! She can just deal with it!"

"This is not up for debate," Lupit sneered at the Orkeht. "If any of you have a problem with this, then maybe you can help persuade Stith to 'just deal with it.' It is her fault."

The Orkeht furiously dug his claws into the ground, grinding his teeth as though trying to crush ice. "That's tough for her isn't it? Just send her north to the learning center! Then she won't be a bother!"

"I don't trust her safety there. Tiryso said he will look after her, so he will teach her too."

"Fine!" the Orkeht spat. He looked away for a moment before sneering at Stith.

"I don't want her to leave either," Kiryee interrupted, snuggling Stith close to her chest like an extra cuddly plush. The young mantrin jerked away in embarrassment from the candid affection. Then, trying to add a less selfish argument, Kiryee said, "Besides, she wouldn't have many friends there. You know how cruel little children can be. Now imagine what it would be like for Stith, who was partially raised by a human."

Turpin snorted, and spoke up again. He was digging his claws into the ground much like the Orkeht. Long troughs were rapidly appearing in the soil beside his legs. "That's her problem," he said, ignoring Kiryee and pulling the corners of his beak into an angry snarl. "We shouldn't be punished for her being a prude! I agree. Tell her to just get over it! I'll walk around without my _poetyo_ if I want to do it, and I don't care if it makes her so sick to her stomach that she throws up until next season!" His words aroused the others greatly, and the resulting chatter grew to be surprisingly loud for such a small bunch.

Stith looked over to Lupit, expecting a sudden violent outburst from him. She cowered into Kiryee's body in anticipation. The old mantrin was not about to say anything however. He remained silent for several minutes. Eventually the commotion died away as the group grew tired of arguing with no one to argue the other way.

A very low growl began to rise from within Lupit. His voice began just as low and then rocketed to a deafening roar. "I said, this is not up for discussion!" A silence blanketed the grounds as though all sound had been torn from the planet; even the distant chattering of creatures had ceased. "May I resume?" he then said in a hushed tone. The group remained silent and motionless, with the exception of Turpin, who was doodling obscene words in the dirt with his claw. "_Myrsya_," he muttered, and took a deep breath as he recollected his thoughts

"With luck the rule will not last long. We only have to do this until she is ready."

"Or until we kill her!" came Hliac's overly excited voice. His eerily blank expression was fixated on her as he drew his tongue across his lips.

"There will be none of that," Lupit said as he shook his head. "Unless you want to share the same fate."

The other mantrins remained quiet about this, although Stith began to whimper. She cuddled into Kiryee even more tightly, and was relieved to feel her arms wrapping around her. "Don't worry about him," Kiryee cooed. "He's crazy, but we won't let him hurt you. I promise." The only response was a faint whimper.

Lupit continued: "One more thing." He paused to think of how to properly word what he wanted to say. "Be nice to her. I know none of you agree with how she was raised." He paused to take a deep breath. "She had no choice in her upbringing. Be nice to her," he repeated. "Or you will be promptly punished. That is all."

The chatting among the others resumed as they stood--all except for Tiryso and Stith--and went back to whatever it was they were originally doing. Kiryee had given Lupit's ear an affectionate lick before she got up, to which Lupit responded by lightly nuzzling the end of her beak. After everyone else was gone, Tiryso gently hoisted the dozing Stith into his arms and carried her back to his room. Lupit and Eleisyn remained, but not for long as she gave a slight grunt and made her way back to the _ghisveht_ building.

"Eleisyn," Lupit called after her.

She froze in her tracks, slowly turning her head to look back at him. Her narrow eyes burned into his large body like molten metal. "Yes?"

"I do not approve of what you did to Lyr before you executed him." The lovely Sogowan did not respond. "I understand that his crime was severe," he said, "but even he did not deserve what you did to him. The execution that I requested would have sufficed. Please learn to control yourself."

There was a short pause, and it appeared for a moment that Eleisyn would not respond. Finally, she did. "Death is a release," she said quietly. Her low soprano voice had the rich color and softness of crushed velvet, and it was sweet like chocolate, although when she spoke it was frigid and lacking emotion. "Thus it is not a punishment. Punishment must be carried out before death." This was all that she said before stepping into the hallway.

ooo

With a slight bit of persuasion from Kiryee, Tiryso decided to let Stith sleep. After all, it _was _very early. During her slumber, he quickly left to go bathe since he had not had much of a chance the previous night. He decided to go to the main area for a change in hopes of being able to speak to some of his old friends, assuming that they were out that morning. It turned out that they were not. Most of them were busy training, as he should have known. Only a fool would bathe, and then leave to get dirty and sweaty afterward. There were only two other males bathing at the time, and he did not recognize them.

Just to be safe, Stith had been left in the care of Salu while he was away. He did not really believe anyone would harm her, but after the way the morning's meeting had gone, he was not taking any chances.

With Salu watching her, he considered staying out longer to enjoy the water. There _were_ some leaves and branches still carelessly floating about from the previous day's storm, but they were not too much of a hindrance. The water still felt good to his skin, and that was really all that mattered at the moment. Even early in the morning, the summer sun was brutal, and the humidity that lasted throughout the day left everyone feeling awfully sticky and miserable. Tiryso pitied those that had to train this morning. Having had been there himself, he knew what they were going through.

Eventually he decided that it would be best if he went ahead and got out of the lake. He needed to get back with Stith real soon. Salu was trustworthy, but Tiryso still felt more secure watching her himself. And what if she woke before he returned? Stith already did not think very highly of him, and finding him missing would not have helped.

Stepping out of the water, he inhaled deeply as the sun washed over his body. It _was _hot. It must have been nearly one hundred degrees. _I may not need this after all, _he thought as he bent down to pick up a long piece of cloth that he had brought to dry himself. It was an extra thick piece made just for that purpose.

Drying did not take long due to the combination of the sun and his towel, and as soon as he was finished, he reapplied his _poetyo_ and went back to his room. On the way, Tiryso's ears perked at the faint sound of some unfortunate mantrin being yelled at by Kiryee. They were far away, but she could raise her voice to ear splitting levels when she felt the need. He decided that it was probably the guards that had vanished last night that were being berated, and quietly laughed as he thought of their misfortune.

Once inside, Tiryso pushed through the curtain to his room. What he saw made him wish that he had come sooner. Stith was up, and apparently not paying him the slightest bit of attention as she munched away at some food. Salu was watching her from Tiryso's bed.

"She's been up almost since you left," Salu said.

"Oh. Sorry, Stith," he said, grinning sheepishly.

Salu chuckled. "It's okay, she forgave you for leaving. She said that you needed a bath because you smelled funny."

"Mmmmhmmm," Stith said, her mouth full of an orange-like fruit. Tiryso glanced down at the gourd in her lap. The writing was not his, so he guessed that it was from Salu's room.

"Pardon me for not smelling up to your standards," he joked.

Stith swallowed. "You need to get some of these. They're yummy," she said, pointing inside the gourd in her lap. It was as though she had not even heard him.

"Stith's muzzle has been in my gourd since she woke. I do believe that she has finished it completely. It is a good thing that they grow as fast and easily as they do, or I would not have any more for a long time." Salu smiled as he watched her engulf a few more of the fruits.

Tiryso glanced down at the gourd. Unable to see inside it for the small hands that were blocking his view, he could not tell how much she had eaten. "She must have been hungry," he said, quite impressed. She _had_ eaten hardly anything the previous day. Anger and stress tended to suppress the desire to eat.

"I don't think she has even come up for breath," Salu said with a chuckle. "She must have a blow hole we don't know about, like those Earth animals. What are they called again? Doobins?"

"Dolphins I think," Tiryso said as Stith set the gourd aside and yawned widely. Some of the fruit juice dribbled from her jaw and onto her lap. The two Gouregs' eyes both fell into the gourd to see how much was left. Nearly a third remained, which was much more than they had expected.

After a brief silence, Stith spoke up again. "Can I see Kiryee?" she asked. A few droplets of juice splattered out of her mouth as she spoke.

"No, not right now," Tiryso said, and then added in anticipation of Stith's protest: "Because she's busy training."

"Training?" Stith looked at Tiryso in confusion, her small tail rocking back and forth.

"Yes. She guides the regular members in exercise."

"Why?" One of Stith's ears twitched.

"It helps us stay healthy, plus we need to be prepared in case we need to defend ourselves again." Tiryso shrugged, not wishing to go into further detail.

"Oh." Stith chewed at the cuticle of one of her fingers after swallowing the rest of her juice. "I wanna see."

Salu and Tiryso looked between each other. Neither was sure if this was a wise idea, as letting the other members see her still made them uneasy. Of course no one would be able to harm her if they were busy training, but those that were not certainly could. Tiryso would never allow harm to come to her as long as he was there, but he knew that he could not watch her every second; the previous night proved that all too well. He had hoped that they could gradually introduce her to the others so that it would not be such a sudden shock, or perhaps even come up with a creative lie to explain where they found her.

As for the other members, a large portion of them would not be training at any given time. The exercises were done by age group and experience. Those that were free could spend the day doing whatever they desired. Often they congregated into their groups of friends and busied themselves with swimming, chatting, playing games (_ooslaj_ was a favorite), flirting with members of other groups, and the occasional mutual procreation.

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Stith," Salu said slowly and quietly. "Someone might try to hurt you."

"You're big and he's even bigger," she pouted, pointing at Tiryso. "Why can't we go?"

"We _can_ go Stith," Tiryso said. "But we can't get close to them. We will have to stay far away, and you will need to do your best to stay hidden for now. We might as well climb atop my garden wall and watch from there. It would be quite the view."

"He's right. Nor will you be able to talk to Kiryee like you seem to want to do. Even if you could get close enough, she would be too busy," Salu added.

Stith's ears drooped. In all honesty, she had just wanted to see Kiryee. Watching the other mantrins train did not interest her in the least. "Oh," she finally said in defeat, and rocked back on her tail.

"Oh, Tiryso, I just remembered," Salu said. "Lupit came by while you were away. He wanted to see you. I think it was about a new mission."

"Hmmm." Tiryso scratched under his beak. "I'd better go see him, then. Salu, can you watch her a little longer?"

"I would enjoy that," he said coolly. Salu reached over to pat her on the head. "Stith's a good girl, I would be pleased to watch her whenever you need my assistance."

"_Myrsya. _Stith, I'll be back soon."

"Okay," was all that she said. Stith did not even look up to see him leave the room.

"Stith, don't be so cold to him," Salu said once Tiryso's footsteps in the hallway died into the distance.

"Why? He's stupid."

"No, he's not. Stith, you should be thankful that he offered to look after you. What if he didn't?"

"Then I'd be happy, because I could be with Kiryee instead."

Salu wrinkled his muzzle. "No, you honestly could not. We have already explained that she is far too busy to spend time watching you. If it was not for Tiryso you would already be at the learning center by now, and I can assure you that children can be far more unforgiving and cruel than grown mantrins like myself. You would be even more miserable than you seem to be, so you should thank him if nothing else."

"But he's still stupid," she grumbled.

Salu laughed as he began to stand. "Stith, he's one of the smartest mantrins here, even if you do not wish to admit it as such." Once his feet were flat on the floor, he stretched, rising high on his legs and reaching up until his palms were flat on the ceiling. From Stith's viewpoint on the floor, Salu looked enormous, even larger than Tiryso. Only the underside of his muzzle could be seen from her diminutive position, not his nostrils, nor his eyes. She imagined him reaching up into the clouds, had they been outside.

Once he was finished with his stretch, Salu returned his attention to her. "Stith, would you like to come with me into the library? I have some work to get done, and maybe I could show you around some."

"I don't like to read." Stith snorted.

"That's too bad," he said pitifully and stepped over to the door. "You might learn some interesting things. Besides, you're going to have to come with me. I don't have a schedule to follow, but if I want to keep my job then I have to be consistent with my work." He stepped partially through the curtain, and looked back at her. "Shall we go?"

"I guess," Stith said with a sigh, and got up slowly enough to stall. When she made her way over to Salu, he gave her a light rub between her ears that met only marginal opposition.

"Tiryso tells me that you can't read our language?" Salu asked, and Stith nodded, her ears flushing slightly in embarrassment. "Then I can get you started on that as well. You will find our language is very easy to read once you become familiar with it. It is far less complicated than all of the human languages," he said, leading Stith through and finally out of the hallway.


End file.
